DGF SHUTS DOWN PIRATE GIRLS BASKETBALL OFFENSE FOR A WIN

The Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball team struggled offensively only scoring 11 points in the first half and could never get going in a 46-35 loss to the Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Rebels in the Blizzard of Basketball Classic at Concordia College in Moorhead.

DGF scored the first points of the game when Maria Watt scored and Crookston responded with a Dani Boyle basket to tie the game at 2-2, but the Pirate offense disappeared for the next 8:56 of the game.  DGF went on a 10-0 run over the almost nine-minute span and the biggest key of the run was the decision by Rebel Coach Tom Critchley Jr. to keep Katlyn Brenna in the game with two fouls and it paid off  because she made two three-pointers to help spark the run for a 12-2 lead with 10:04 left in the first half.  “She is a good player and has been around a long time and she is a dangerous player and a good shooter,” said Pirate Coach Darin Zimmerman talking about Brenna. “That seemed to get them going and she is a smart player and can play with two fouls.”  Nobody scored for almost four minutes and Crookston’s Boyle made a free throw and a minute later Emma Borowicz added two free throws and the Pirates trailed 12-5 with 5:17 remaining in the half.  DGF answered with six straight points, four of them by Evelyn Moe, for an 18-5 lead.  Crookston finished the half by scoring the final three points with a Gretchen Theis free throw and Borowicz added two more free throws to bring the Pirates within a 20-11 deficit at halftime.  “I thought we played very well defensively and we didn’t play very good on the offensive end and were still in the game,” said Coach Zimmerman. “We didn’t have good spacing, we forced a lot of shots and we can’t do that against a good team like Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton.”
Crookston had a great start to the second half when Hayden Winjum and Borowicz had back-to-back baskets and the DGF lead was down to five points (20-15) two minutes into the half.  The Rebels next three made shots were three-pointers (by three different players) to start a 16-5 run for a 36-21 lead with 10 minutes left in the game.  “They are a three-point shooting team,” said Coach Zimmerman. “We didn’t close out on their best three-point shooter out of a timeout and that hurt.”  Rachel Hefta started to heat up and had six straight points and went on an 8-1 run by herself over a two-minute span to bring the Pirates within a 40-32 deficit with 3:25 to go, but that would be as close as the Pirates would get in the 46-35 loss.  Crookston didn’t make a three-pointer in the game. “Defensively we were strong today in both man and zone and we were contesting everything and only giving up 46 points is pretty good,” said Coach Zimmerman. “Unfortunately on the offensive end we struggled with turnovers and it didn’t help that we didn’t shoot well today.  Yesterday it seemed like we couldn’t miss and today we couldn’t make a shot.  Sometimes that’s how it goes.”
Crookston drops to 8-2 on the year and will host Bagley on January 4.  DGF improves to 6-5 on the year.