sports

CROOKSTON GIRL’S BASKETBALL DOESN’T SCORE FOR 9-MINUTE SPAN, STILL BEATS BARNESVILLE 56-27

December 17, 2019

The Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball team didn’t score for over nine minutes in the first half. Still, they relied on their fantastic defense once again in a 56-27 victory over the Barnesville Trojans in a Section 8AA matchup played on Parent’s Night at the Crookston High School gymnasium.

FIRST HALF –
Barnesville scored the first point of the game on an Emily Bredman free throw 41 seconds into the game. Crookston responded with a 10-0 run with baskets by Dani Boyle, Gretchen Theis, after a rebound before going coast to coast. Hayden Winjum, Kasey Cwikla, and Theis added a basket each for a 10-1 lead five minutes into the game. “I thought it defensively we came out and did what we wanted to do,” said Pirate Coach Darin Zimmerman. “Offensively, we played the best half-court offense to start the game this year.” As impressive as Crookston’s defense was in the first five minutes, Barnesville’s was even better over the next nine minutes. Barnesville’s defense was so good that Crookston didn’t score for 9:09 (or half of the first half), and the Trojan’s offense was on fire with 11 points, six of the points from Emily Smith, for a 12-10 lead with 4:35 left in the half. “Barnesville came back and responded as good teams do,” said Coach Zimmerman. “We were playing good defense, but we didn’t play well on offense because we were rushing everything.” Crookston’s offense settled in, and a combination of Pirate steals leading to back-to-back three-pointers from Hayden Winjum and Dani Boyle, and less than two minutes later, they led 16-12. Barnesville answered with a three-pointer before Crookston responded with another Boyle three and a Halle Winjum steal for a layup for a 21-15 lead with 68 seconds left in the half. Both teams scored two points in the final minute, and Crookston took a 23-17 lead into halftime. “That was a big stretch for us,” said Coach Zimmerman. “We got hot on the three-pointers towards the end of the half.”

SECOND HALF –
Crookston had another impressive start in the second half by going on a 13-2 run in the first five minutes. Emma Borowicz started the scoring 20 seconds into the half, Hayden Winjum added a basket before Barnesville scored their only points of the run. Crookston followed with a Hayden Winjum layup, a basket from Boyle, a steal and layup for Emma Borowicz, Kasey Cwikla took her third charge of the game, Boyle added a free throw and Halle Winjum had a steal leading to a layup for a 36-19 lead with 12:57 left in the game. “To come out in the second half to execute as we did was a key difference,” said Coach Zimmerman. “Kasey protected the rim all night. Three charges in one game is as unselfish as it gets.” Crookston led 41-25 with less than six minutes to go in the game when they went on a 15-0 run, sparked by three straight three-pointers with Theis making back-to-back threes, one from Boyle who followed with a basket, Halle Winjum had a steal, and a layup and Ally Perreault made a three-pointer for a 56-25 lead with less than two minutes to go. Crookston didn’t score the rest of the game and won 56-25. “When we are playing well, our defense will spark our offense,” said Coach Zimmerman. “We had active hands tonight, and we had a lot of steals and deflections. It was a fun game. Barnesville is a well-coached and solid team, so it was a nice win.”

Crookston improves to 7-0 on the year and will travel to Roseau on Thursday for a rematch of the Section 8AA Girls Basketball championship game from last year. KROX will broadcast the game. Barnesville drops to 3-3 on the year.

	1st	2nd	Final
Barnesville	17	10	27
CROOKSTON	23	33	56

For Crookston	Points	Rebound	Steals/Assists
Dani Boyle	16		4 steals
Gretchen Theis	12	4	3 steals
Hayden Winjum	11		5 steals/4 assists
Halle Winjum	6	6	5 steals/5 assists
Emma Borowicz	6	3	3 steals
Kasey Cwikla	2	3	3 charges taken
Ally Perreault	2	4
Emma Boll	1