CROOKSTON GIRLS BASKETBALL REMAINS UNBEATEN WITH WIN OVER RED LAKE FALLS

The Crookston Pirates Girls basketball team used a 9-0 run early in the first half to pull away in a 57-19 win over the Red Lake Falls Eagles in a non-Section game played at the Crookston High School Gymnasium.
Crookston jumped out to a 5-0 lead thanks to five offensive rebounds on the Pirates first two possessions resulting in lay-ups by Danielle Boyle and Kylie Solheim. Red Lake Falls scored its first basket with 14:55 left in the first half. Crookston answered with a 9-0 run capped off by a pass across the lane from Kylie Solheim to Emma Borowicz resulting with a lay-up inside giving the Pirates a 14-2 lead. “I thought we did a good job of creating opportunities for ourselves, but I don’t think we did a great job of converting on t,” said Crookston head coach Darrin Zimmerman. Following a pair of Red Lake Falls baskets, Crookston utilized another 6-0 run including four straight points scored by Emma Borowicz pushing the Pirates’ lead to 22-8. The Eagles closed out the half by scoring six of the final eleven points in the half, but Crookston was still able to claim a 27-14 lead at halftime. “It was defensive intensity all night,” said Zimmerman. “I thought the girls did a really good job of covering gaps really well. Moving when the ball was in the air. Closing out and contesting shots and I think, for the most part, we had a hand in someone’s face for ninety to ninety-five percent of shots tonight.”
In the second half, the Pirates’ defense set the tone by holding Red Lake Falls scoreless over the first seven minutes of the second half allowing Crookston to score the first thirteen points of the second half giving the hosts a 42-14 lead. Crookston continued to play intense defense throughout the final eighteen minutes of the game limiting the Eagles to just five second-half points. The Pirates reserves were able to see significant time on the floor in the games closing minutes and Halle Winjum stole the show scoring the game’s final four points closing out Crookston’s 57-19 win. “We talked about finishing (at halftime),” explained Zimmerman. “We left a lot of play in the first half, especially at the offensive end. We talked about being a little bit more in control. Making sure that we were playing within ourselves a little bit more. Keeping the intensity where it was at, but then finishing plays on both ends of the floor both offensively and defensively. We’ve talked how you have to be good defensively because ideally, you want to shoot the ball well every night, and usually we shoot the ball well in our home gym, but the shots didn’t fall as easily tonight as they have in some past games, so we’ve always emphasized defensively that even if you have that sort of poor night offensively shooting it the defense can win you games.”
While Crookston’s offensive struggles would have been a cause for concern for most teams, Zimmerman was pleased with his team’s ability to close out a win on a night where the offense struggled, particularly in the first half, “It was a great team effort. Defensively, especially, we’re really pleased and proud of the way we played on defense. We’ve got to finish on offense a little bit better and protect the ball a little bit better but if we can take care of those things we’re just going to keep getting better and better.”
The Pirates improve to 3-0 and return to the court on Friday when Crookston hosts Warroad at 5:30 p.m. on KROX.  Red Lake Falls drops to 3-1.