The Pirates bounced back from a rough loss to Grand Forks Red River on Tuesday with a solid 64-39 victory over Stephen-Argyle Thursday in Crookston. The Pirates controlled the pace of play throughout the game against the Storm and found success both down low and with outside shooting. The Pirates improved to 6-7 on the season, while Stephen-Argyle, whose head coach Garry Kotts is a Crookston High School alum, falls to 4-10.
"We had more confidence tonight," said Pirate head coach Lon Boike. "Things slowed down and we didn't have as many turnovers. We got points down low and kicked it out and hit shots. The girls executed the game plan well."
Boike noted that his team's defense in the beginning of the first half wasn't great but they settled in later on.
"Early on we weren't good in our man-to-man defense," he said. "We switched to a 1-3-1 and that slowed them down. They weren't going to score points in the paint. In the second half I thought our 1-2-2 did a good job.
Lauren Graham led all scorers with 23 points in a dominant performance. She kicked off the scoring with a basket down low and Kristin Remick followed with a three pointer to make it 5-0 early on.
A 7-1 run by the Storm gave them a 7-6 lead four minutes into the first half but that was the only lead they would see.
Crookston answered with a 12-6 run, which was capped with 9:37 left on the clock and a lay up by Sara Bjerk off a steal to make it 18-13. The Pirates kept increasing the lead throughout the rest of the first half with a three-point play and a pair of threes by Graham and Kellee Koenig to take a 35-22 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Graham finished the half with 13 points.
Remick kicked off the second half with a three from the wing, which sparked a 13-3 run that included another Remick three. The Pirates converted a trio of three-point plays in the opening 11 minutes of the second half to build the lead on their way to the 25-point victory.
Backing up Graham's performance was Remick with nine points, Rachel Wold with seven and Bjerk with six. Ashleigh Erdmann and MacKenzie Sandstrom each added four.
Jennifer Crummy lead the Storm with 16 points.
The Pirates will travel today to face Win-E-Mac at 7:30 p.m. They will be back home Tuesday, Jan. 26 against Warroad at 7:30 p.m.
