The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Basketball team started the game on a 51-1 run and cruised to a 74-18 victory over the Warroad Warriors in a Section 8AA playoff game held in Crookston.
FIRST HALF
Crookston started the game focused and seemed to step up their play when they led 4-0 in the first minute. The Pirates picked up the defensive pressure and starting hitting shots from all over the floor. Emma Boll had an offensive rebound and putback, followed by another basket in the paint for an 8-0 lead. Warroad scored their first point of the game on a free throw from Avianna Heppner with 15:56 left in the half. Crookston scored the next 33 points of the game. Emma Borowicz had 18 points, including four three-pointers, and Hayden Winjum had 10-points to lead the Pirates in the half. At one point, Crookston made seven of their first eight three-pointers on their way to a 51-1 lead with 4:34 left in the half. “That was a great start obviously. The execution was good, the effort was good, teamwork was good and we checked all the boxes,” said Pirate Coach Darrin Zimmerman. “The girls were focused and it is a credit to how hard the girls have worked every game and it was fun to see them execute like that.” Crookston went to the bench and subbed all five starters out and Warroad took advantage as they outscored the Pirates 8-0 in the final four minutes of the half. The Warriors had two three-pointers from Catherine Thompson and a Heppner basket to get within a 51-9 deficit at halftime. “The first half was one of the best halves we played this season in terms of execution, scoring, and defensively we were solid,” said Coach Zimmerman. “It wasn’t that we played bad in the last four minutes of the half, you have to give Warroad credit because they kind of settled in and ran their offense and they have some athletes and did some nice things.”
SECOND HALF
Crookston took any thought of a Warroad comeback away by starting the second half on a 15-0 run with five different players scoring for a 65-9 lead with 11-minutes left in the game. “That was nice to come out strong in the second half,” said Coach Zimmerman. Crookston played all 14 players before the clock hit running time with nine minutes left. The Pirates had 11 of the 14 players score and cruised to the 74-18 victory. “The girls came out focused and it is a huge part of the game,” said Coach Zimmerman. “It was a very successful night tonight and now we get ready for whoever we play on Friday.”
Crookston improves to 15-3 on the year and will host Barnesville on Friday at 7:00 p.m. KROX Radio will broadcast the game on the radio and also live stream with the pre-game show at 6:20 p.m. Tickets for Friday’s game will be on sale at the Crookston High School on Thursday from 11:30 to 1:30. Warroad ends the season 5-15.
1st | 2nd | Final | |
Warroad | 9 | 9 | 18 |
CROOKSTON | 51 | 23 | 74 |
For Crookston | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
Emma Borowicz | 18 | 4 | 3 steals/2 assists |
Hayden Winjum | 12 | 3 | 5 steals/2 assists |
Emma Boll | 8 | 4 | 2 assists/2 steals |
Emma Osborn | 8 | 2 steals | |
Abby Borowicz | 6 | 3 | 2 assists |
Halle Winjum | 6 | 3 | 4 steals/2 assists |
Madison Hoiland | 4 | 3 | |
Jenna Coauette | 3 | 2 steals | |
Amelia Overgaard | 3 | ||
Ally Perreault | 3 | 3 | |
Libby Salentine | 3 | 3 |
For Warroad | Points |
Catherine Thompson | 9 |
Avianna Heppner | 8 |
Laci Kennedy | 1 |