The Crookston Pirate Girl’s Basketball team had two outstanding performances from two seniors as Emma Osborn scored 31 points and Hayden Winjum had 11 steals, 10 rebounds, and four assists on their way to a 63-38 victory over the East Grand Forks Green Wave in a Section 8AA game in East Grand Forks. The win was the 12th in a row for the Pirates.
FIRST HALF –
Crookston had a great start to the game by using their suffocating defense to turn the Green Wave over, and the Pirates had the hot hand from outside to take an 11-3 lead three minutes into the game. Emma Osborn started the scoring with a three-pointer, Halle Winjum had a steal and a layup and followed on the next possession with two free throws for a 5-0 lead. After an EGF three-pointer from Alison Kovar, Crookston responded with an Ally Perreault basket forcing a Green Wave time out. After the time out, EGF turned the ball over, and Perreault was fouled and made two free throws for an 11-3 lead three minutes into the game. “If you are going to turn a team over you need to turn them into points,” said Pirate Coach Darin Zimmerman. “It was a good start, a start we wanted to have after a slow start the first time we played.”
EGF stopped the run with a Brynn Havis basket only to have Crookston respond with a 19-3 run. The run started with a Perreault free throw, a Crookston steal led to another Osborn three-pointer after a second straight, Crookston steal Abby Borowicz buried a three-pointer with Osborn following with her third long-ball of the game for a 21-5 lead. After another Green Wave three from Kovar, Crookston responded with a basket from Perreault, an Osborn steal and layup, an Emma Gunderson three-pointer, and another layup from Osborn for a 30-8 lead. Crookston didn’t score for over four minutes late in the half and still took a 41-14 lead into halftime. “Emma (Osborn) shot the ball so well, Abby played well on both ends, and every contributed tonight,” said Coach Zimmerman. “We were pleased with the first half, but there were some things we had to shore up to be a little cleaner.”
SECOND HALF –
Crookston started the second half with the red-hot Osborn making a three-pointer. After a Green Wave three-point play, the Pirates responded with a Halle Winjum basket and a layup from Osborn for a 48-17 lead less than three minutes into the half. Osborn scored the following eight Pirate points with a couple of three-pointers and a basket to give her team a 56-23 lead with 9:18 left in the game. Halle Winjum followed with a three of her own for a 59-23 lead with 8:36 remaining to start the running clock. East Grand Forks scored before Osborn buried another three-pointer for her 31st point, with 7:35 left in the game. “Halle and Emma had the hot hand tonight and that was great and the way they were playing the girls were trying to find them,” said Coach Zimmerman. Crookston went to the bench the rest of the way and only scored one point and held on to win 63-38. “I thought everybody contributed tonight,” said Coach Zimmerman. “We started working the ball around and trying to run some sets so we could work on some things. Emma (Osborn) was really in the zone and was getting her shot off and Hayden played an outstanding game and is such an intelligent player.”
Crookston wins their 12th game in a row and improves to 15-2 on the year, and will travel to Roseau on Friday night, where they take on the Rams for the second time this week. East Grand Forks drops to 5-10 on the season.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| CROOKSTON | 41 | 22 | 63 |
| East Grand Forks | 14 | 24 | 38 |
| CROOKSTON | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Emma Osborn | 31 | 3 | 2 steals |
| Halle Winjum | 14 | 3 | 4 assists/3 steals |
| Ally Perreault | 7 | 7 | |
| Abby Borowicz | 5 | 3 assists | |
| Jenna Coauette | 2 | ||
| Amelia Overgaard | 1 | ||
| Hayden Winjum | 0 | 10 | 11 steals/4 assists |
| For East Grand Forks | Points |
| Alison Kovar | 11 |
| Tatem Votava | 6 |
| Brynn Havis | 5 |
| Emma Marcott | 4 |
| Emma Gardner | 3 |
| Mya Langerud | 2 |
| Addison Kujawa | 2 |
| Avery Rand | 2 |
| Megan Dauksavage | 2 |
| Camryn Adams | 2 |
