PERHAM OUTLASTS PIRATE GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Perham Yellow Jackets outscored the Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball team 8-2 in the final three minutes of the game for a 48-42 victory in a Section 8AA game played at the Perham Middle School gymnasium.

Crookston had a great start with back-to-back three-pointers from Dani Boyle and Kylie Solheim and a little over seven minutes into the game they led 12-6.  “We were pretty good and nice to come out and hit a couple of three-pointers,” said Pirate Coach Darin Zimmerman. “It was a good start.”  Crookston’s offense struggled the rest of the half as Perham outscored the Pirates 18-4 in the final 10:16 of the half behind 12 points from Mesa Schultz and the Yellowjackets took a 24-16 lead into halftime.  “She (Schultz) was really good and we didn’t do a job of containing her,” said Coach Zimmerman. “I wasn’t very happy (at halftime) and I don’t think the girls were either.  I think we are a really good team, but we have to take the next step forward.”

Crookston had a great start to the second half when Emma Borowicz scored the first basket of the half before Perham answered with a three of their own. Hayden Winjum followed with a three-point play and after a Perham basket, Winjum added a basket, Gretchen Theis scored on a nice drive to the basket, Winjum grabbed an offensive rebound and scored and Kasey Cwikla banked a free throw line jump shot to tie the game at 29.  Crookston continued the run with Boyle making a three-pointer and Halle Winjum made a free throw to give Crookston a 33-29 lead, capping the 12-0 Pirate run with 11 minutes left in the game.  “We came out and responded and that is the type of effort, intensity, and execution that we can do more consistently,” said Coach Zimmerman.  Perham picked up their offensive play with a Katie Johnson three-pointer followed by four points from Sydney Anderson and the Yellowjackets had a 36-33 lead.  Crookston answered with back to back baskets from Kylie Solheim and Borowicz to tie the game at 36 with 7:16 remaining.  Crookston had a chance to take the lead but missed the front end of a bonus and Perham answered with a free throw for a 37-36 lead.  Crookston’s Rachel Hefta grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to give Crookston the lead and the Pirates had a chance to expand the lead but missed the front end of the bonus again.  Perham made three free throws to regain the lead, but Crookston’s Borowicz tied the game at 40 with a basket with three minutes left in the game.  Crookston struggled on the offensive end in the final minutes and Perham made their free throws to end the game on an 8-2 run to pick up the 48-42 victory.  “Perham has a nice team, but with that being said we left a lot….again.  It is disappointing, we certainly didn’t execute like we need to execute, nor did we play with the effort and for about 10 minutes in the first half I didn’t know where we were at,” said Coach Zimmerman.  “We probably missed six or seven layups and we missed at least 10 free throws and you can’t do that. Free throws make a huge difference and the way we were playing defensively, a lead would have been big.  We have to take the next step.”

Crookston drops to 11-6 on the year and will host Barnesville on Tuesday.  Perham improves to 8-9 on the year.
J.V. – Perham won 45-41

Pirate Girls Basketball vs Perham

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