Crookston Girls Basketball stages comeback win over NCE/UH

The Crookston Pirate Girls’ Basketball team played great defense and made timely free throws to beat the Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal Titans 49-45 in Ulen Thursday afternoon in a defensive struggle. Crookston held the Titans scoreless over the final 2:40 of the game and grabbed 51 rebounds as a team in the win.

FIRST HALF –
Crookston had a strong start to the game, as they jumped out to an early lead over the first three minutes. Chloe Boll, Grace Boll, and Madi Bruggeman all scored from the floor, with the lone NCE-UH coming from Brenna Olson. Joey Nesseth added a point from the free throw line to make it 7-2 Crookston with 14:41 left in the half. The Crookston defense came up with another point at the line and a few defensive plays forced the Titans to burn their first timeout at the 13:31 mark. On Olivia Theis three after the timeout ended the NCE-UH scoring drought and cut the Crookston lead to 3. That was the first score of an 10-1 Titans that included points from Theis, Olson and Avah Bailey. A Grace Boll layup ended the run and put the Pirates within 1 at the 10:47 mark. That would spark another 8-point scoring run for Crookston, highlighted by a Chloe Boll 3-pointer. The Titans stopped the run with two Cerigan Prestegard free throws, which cut the Pirate lead to 19-14 with 6:43 left in the half. At 4:51, the Titans were able to claw back within a score with help from a Theis and-one. Crookston stayed ahead thanks to several unforced errors and great interior defense. Madi Bruggeman added a few points in the paint, but a Titan three-pointer kept it at 22-26 Crookston with 2:51 left in the half. Crookston finished the half similar to the way they started it, as they outscored the Titans 5-2 over the final minutes with a layup from Joey Nesseth and free throws from Brooklyn Waldal. Both sides played admirable defense, but Crookston only allowed four Titan players to score in the first half. Crookston also grabbed 27 boards and recorded seven steals en route to a 31-24 halftime lead.

SECOND HALF –
The half started slow, as neither team scored in the first two minutes. Crookston’s Joey Nesseth was fouled in the paint and hit both free throws to end the scoreless streak at 15:49 to go in the game. A Bruggeman layup moments later was answered by a Bailey triple for NCE-UH to make it 35-27 for the Pirates. The next four minutes saw missed shots from the pirates, and two more threes from Bailey to get the Titans back in a one score game with 11:25 to go. A miss from Crookston allowed the Titans to knot the game at 35 each with 10:44 to go on a layup from Tess Anderson. Another Titan 3 led to a Pirate timeout in an attempt to stop the 11-0 run from NCE-UH. Out of the timeout, Crookston was able to cut the lead back to one. Chloe Boll grabbed three of her own rebounds before feeding Bruggeman for the quick 2. The Titans quickly answered on a Brenna Olson fast break, as she grabbed a steal and went to the rim without contest. The Titans then scored 5 in a row to go up 54-38, and two Bruggeman free throws put Crookston back within 2 possessions at 45-40 with about five minutes left in the game. Two misses at the free throw line would lead to a Chloe Boll layup, which cut the Pirate lead to 3 with 2:58 remaining. Fouls started to mount for the Titans, who put Crookston in the bonus seconds later. This allowed Grace Boll to cut the lead to one at the line. The shots suddenly stopped falling for NCE/UH, and Crookston was able to take a 46-45 lead on a Nesseth layup. Another Titan miss and a foul put Nesseth on the line for two more. She only made one, but it put the Pirates up by two inside of a minute to go. Olson tried a three for the Titans and missed, and the Pirates quickly drew another foul. Grace Boll delivered the dagger at the line to put Crookston up 49-45. The Pirate defense held, as did the score, as Crookston won its second game in a row.

Crookston improves to 7-17 on the year and will visit Park Rapids on Monday night.