MOORHEAD - The Crookston High School girls basketball team patiently waited in the second half for Barnesville's hot streak to end.
It never happened.
Barnesville shot 60 percent and turned the ball over once in the second half en route to a 72-66 victory against the Pirates in the Minnesota Section 8AA championship game Friday.
The Trojans will play the Section 4 champion at 11 a.m. on Thursday in the first round of the state tournament at University of Minnesota's Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis.
"I guess we had a lot of confidence," said senior Erica Nord, who finished with 17 points and six assists. "We wanted to be aggressive and that's what we did tonight."
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Crookston, which was attempting to repeat as 8AA champion, used an 8-0 run to take an early 17-9 advantage.
The Pirates then went cold from the field and a 10-0 run put Barnesville ahead 21-20 with five minutes, 50 seconds remaining in the first half.
Kamille Wahlin, who was 5-of-5 from the floor and 3-of-3 from the foul line for 13 points in the first half, hit a short jump shot to give Crookston a 34-32 halftime edge. Wahlin, a junior guard, finished with 21 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds.
"We knew they were a very good basketball team," Nord said. "In the first half, we weathered their storm."
Crookston held a 38-36 lead early in second half when Barnesville made its move. The Trojans outscored the Pirates 7-0 during a one-minute stretch to go ahead 43-38.
Barnesville answered every Crookston rally the rest of the way, pushing Crookston into low percentage shots and turnovers down the stretch.
The Trojans, who scored 19 points off Pirate turnovers, shot 51 percent form the field. The teams combined to make 27 of 46 shots in the second half.
"I thought it was big for them to hit shots at the beginning of the (second) half," Crookston coach Kris Evje said. "Every time they needed to hit a shot, they hit a shot. When maybe we pushed it back close again, every time we had a chance to get it back to a low number, they hit a shot. When you don't turn the ball over and you shoot the ball as well as they did, especially clutch shots, it's an uphill battle (to come back)."
