The Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball team started slow but heated up and dominated the Roseau Rams on their way to a 67-35 victory in a Section 8AA game played in Roseau. Crookston won their 14th game in a row.
FIRST HALF –
Crookston started the game with a cold hand shooting but used their defense to build an early 7-3 lead. Roseau made a three-pointer to open the scoring. Still, Crookston answered with a Halle Winjum free throw, an Emma Osborn layup, Abby Borowicz basket, and an Ally Perreault basket in the paint for a 7-3 lead over four minutes into the game. Roseau would battle back to tie the game at 11 before Crookston went on a 27-6 run in the final 11 minutes of the half. “We continued to work on the little things even if we weren’t getting the shots to fall,” said Pirate Coach Darin Zimmerman. “We had a lot of open shots that didn’t go in and I was happy we kept playing hard, and the shots started falling.” Abby Borowicz made a free throw line jumper, and Halle Winjum made the first Pirate three-pointer in about 10 shots to give the Pirates a 16-11 lead halfway through the half. Crookston continued with an Emma Gunderson basket, a three-pointer from Osborn, and after a Ram basket, Crookston’s Hayden and Halle Winjum had back-to-back three-pointers. With the Pirates leading 30-17, they scored the final eight points with an Osborn three-pointer and five points from Borowicz for a 38-17 lead at halftime. “It was a great second half of the first half for us,” said Coach Zimmerman. “I thought Abby and Halle got us going, Libby Salentine gave us good minutes off the bench, and Hayden played some great defense.”
SECOND HALF –
Roseau’s Nevea Fletcher scored the first point of the half with a free throw only to have Crookston respond with an Osborn basket and back-to-back-to-back three-pointers from Halle Winjum, Borowicz, and Osborn for a 49-18 lead with 13 minutes left in the game. “We came out in the second half and played outstanding defense,” said Coach Zimmerman. “That gave us a good cushion, and we knew we were playing some good defense that we were in good shape.” After a Roseau basket, Crookston’s Osborn and Borowicz had back-to-back three-pointers for a 55-20 lead. Roseau answered with three straight points before Crookston answered with four points from Ally Perreault and another three-pointer for Osborn and a 62-23 lead with 7:10 left in the game with running time going. Pirate Coach Darin Zimmerman went to the bench with six-and-a-half minutes left, and Bailey Cameron made a three-pointer before Roseau went on 12-0 run with 10 points coming from eight-grader Brooklyn Hulst, but it wasn’t enough as Crookston held on for a 67-35 victory. “Another solid win for us. Roseau has a solid team, and it wasn’t easy playing the same team twice in the same week,” said Coach Zimmerman. “It was another good win on the road and a good all-around team effort.”
Crookston improves to 15-2 on the year after their 13th win in a row and will host Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton on Monday. Roseau drops to 15-5 on the year.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| CROOKSTON | 38 | 29 | 67 |
| Roseau | 17 | 18 | 35 |
| For CROOKSTON | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Emma Osborn | 23 | 5 | 3 steals/2 assists |
| Abby Borowicz | 15 | 5 | 3 assists/2 steals |
| Halle Winjum | 12 | 5 steals/3 assists | |
| Ally Perreault | 6 | 3 | |
| Hayden Winjum | 4 | 4 | 6 steals/3 assists |
| Bailey Cameron | 3 | ||
| Amelia Overgaard | 2 |
| For Roseau | Points |
| Brooklyn Hulst | 10 |
| Neveah Fletcher | 7 |
| Shavonda Bender | 6 |
| Anya Severson | 4 |
| Emma Bassingthwaite | 3 |
| Kayla Bachleitner | 3 |
| Sophia Olson | 2 |
