The Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball team had no answer for the Pelican Rapids Vikings’ offensive attack, as the Vikings used a 41-point first half to catapult them to a 78-48 win over the Pirates in Pelican Rapids on Monday night.
FIRST HALF –
The game started with Chloe Boll hitting the first field goal of the contest. After that, though, Pelican Rapids went on a 16-4 run to take a 16-6 lead in the first four minutes of the game. Pirate head coach Kory Baril called a quick timeout to try and slow the run down, and Joey Nesseth and Brooklyn Waldal were able to put away buckets, helping the Pirates hang around into the middle of the half, but good 3-point shooting by the Vikings gave them a 24-11 advantage with 8 minutes to go in the half. Both teams exchanged buckets, keeping the lead hovering around 15 points until there was under 3 minutes left. “They started out really quick, but we battled back,” said Pirate head coach Kory Baril. “We kept it at an 11-point game for a while, but they kept hitting some big shots.” Those shots came pretty quick as well, as after Waldal was able to cut the lead to 15 at 34-19, but that’s when the scoring for Pelican Rapids surged in the final stretch, as Morgan Korf and Kamryn Kirkwood led the Vikings on a 7-2 run to end the half with a 41-21 lead.
SECOND HALF –
Crookston opened up the second half with the hot hand, as Chloe Boll and Naomi Johnson led the Pirates on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 41-27. The Pirates then continued to push, and an acrobatic finish by Grace Boll cut the lead to 12 before the Vikings were forced to call a timeout. “We did a great job coming out strong right away in the second half,” said Pirate head coach Kory Baril, “We cut into their lead, but they kept hitting big shots.” Out of that timeout, Morgan Korf exploded on offense for the Vikings; it started by hitting a 3-pointer in the first 5 seconds of the shot clock, and then converting a 3-point play on the very next possession, giving her 22 points at this stage. She then scored on the next possession again, restoring the Vikings’ 20-point advantage, followed that up with a 3-pointer the next time down, and then stole the inbounds pass and laid it in, going on a 13-2 run against the Pirates all by herself to give the Vikings a 56-33 lead with 11:20 remaining. Carlie Hovland then joined in on the scoring to extend the lead to 26. Grace Boll hit a shot from deep to try and stop the run, but the offensive presence of the Vikings continued to be aggressive, gathering offensive rebounds and drawing fouls. They were able to take a 25-point lead with 5 minutes left, and did not let off the gas. As the half reached its final minutes, Chloe Boll and Naomi Johnson continued to add points to their scorecards, but there just wasn’t enough as the Vikings were able to cruise down the stretch, leading to a 78-48 victory. Coach Baril had good things to say about his team. “The girls worked really hard tonight,” said Baril, “Pelican is a great shooting team and was aggressive to the basket, but we kept fighting.”
Crookston falls to 5-15 on the season and will take on Perham on Tuesday night. Pelican Rapids improves to 14-5 on the season.
J.V. – Pelican Rspids won 36-22
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Crookston | 21 | 27 | 48 |
| Pelican Rapids | 41 | 37 | 78 |
| For Crookston | Points | Rebounds | Assists/steals |
| Chloe Boll | 14 | ||
| Madi Bruggeman | 14 | ||
| Brooklyn Waldal | 7 | ||
| Naomi Johnson | 6 | ||
| Grace Boll | 5 | ||
| Joey Nesseth | 4 |
| For Pelican Rapids | Points |
| Morgan Korf | 29 |
| Kamryn Kirkwood | 13 |
| Megan Guler | 8 |
| Malia Tweeton | 8 |
| Zayli Arrow | 6 |
| Carlie Hovland | 5 |
| Grace Backstrom | 3 |
| Ellie Carlson | 3 |
| Arianna Hovland | 2 |
