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Devils Lake coach Justin Klein thought long and hard to find the words after watching his team drop a 67-58 decision to visiting Grand Forks Red River on Tuesday at the Devils Lake Sports Center.
After all, the first-year Firebird mentor has seen similar events play out too often in his first year as the top man on the DLHS bench.
“We play well enough at times to win games,” Klein said, “ ... we just can’t put a full game together.”
Play well the Firebirds did. In the early portion of the game.
The Roughriders were guilty of turnovers on each of their first three possessions in the game. The Firebirds took advantage of those miscues as they got baskets from Sarah Schafer and Christa Lysne to grab an early 4-0 lead before Red River managed to get on the board.
Devils Lake continued to force Red River into a number of turnovers as the Firebirds built a double digit lead midway through the first half.
A layup by Lysne pushed the Devils Lake lead to 14-4 with 9:40 remaining in the first half. It was a lead the Firebirds would maintain until the closing moments of the half when the Riders began to chip away at the Devils Lake lead.
A 3-pointer by Payton Salquist and a pair of free throws from Ellie Ripplinger less than one minute apart sliced that deficit in half for the Riders, who trailed 20-15 with 4:12 remaining in the half.
A free throw from Ripplinger with 1:18 to to tied the game 23-23 and Red River grabbed the halftime lead when Nicole Ladoucer put back an offensive rebound to give the Riders the 26-25 haltime edge.
The second half started well for the Firebirds as Taylor Swanson connected on a NBA-type 3-pointer from the left win to tie the game at 28-28.
Ladoucer answered with a nifty drive past the Devils Lake defense to give the lead back to the Riders, who would lead the rest of the way.
Schafer led the way for Devils Lake with 15 points and was one of three players to reach double figures in scoring for the Firebirds. Swanson and Lysne both ended the game with 14 points.
Devils Lake’s ability to overtake the Riders down the stretch was hampered by free throw shooting and turnovers.
The Firebirds managed just 10 of 17 free throws in the second half and finished with 30 turnovers in the contest.
Red River, which finished with 28 turnovers in the game, also placed a trio of players in double digits. Ellie Ripplinger netted a game-high 19 points while Nicole Ladoucer and Ashley Knecht added 14 and 13 points, respectively, for the Roughriders.
Devils Lake, which is now 3-9 on the season, will try to get back on the winning track on Friday when the Firebirds travel to Fargo to take on Fargo North.
GF Red River (67): Ellie Ripplinger 19, Nicole Ladoucer 14, Ashley Knecht 13, Hadley Steffen 7, Payton Salquist 7, JoDee Wheeler 6, Shelly Bommersbach 1.
Devils Lake (58): Sarah Schafer 15, Taylor Swanson 14, Christa Lysne 14, Madison Walford 8, Dru Lunday 4, Josie Knowski 2, Cassidy Nelson 1.
Halftime: Red River 26-25.
Devils Lake coach Justin Klein thought long and hard to find the words after watching his team drop a 67-58 decision to visiting Grand Forks Red River on Tuesday at the Devils Lake Sports Center.
After all, the first-year Firebird mentor has seen similar events play out too often in his first year as the top man on the DLHS bench.
“We play well enough at times to win games,” Klein said, “ ... we just can’t put a full game together.”
Play well the Firebirds did. In the early portion of the game.
The Roughriders were guilty of turnovers on each of their first three possessions in the game. The Firebirds took advantage of those miscues as they got baskets from Sarah Schafer and Christa Lysne to grab an early 4-0 lead before Red River managed to get on the board.
Devils Lake continued to force Red River into a number of turnovers as the Firebirds built a double digit lead midway through the first half.
A layup by Lysne pushed the Devils Lake lead to 14-4 with 9:40 remaining in the first half. It was a lead the Firebirds would maintain until the closing moments of the half when the Riders began to chip away at the Devils Lake lead.
A 3-pointer by Payton Salquist and a pair of free throws from Ellie Ripplinger less than one minute apart sliced that deficit in half for the Riders, who trailed 20-15 with 4:12 remaining in the half.
A free throw from Ripplinger with 1:18 to to tied the game 23-23 and Red River grabbed the halftime lead when Nicole Ladoucer put back an offensive rebound to give the Riders the 26-25 haltime edge.
The second half started well for the Firebirds as Taylor Swanson connected on a NBA-type 3-pointer from the left win to tie the game at 28-28.
Ladoucer answered with a nifty drive past the Devils Lake defense to give the lead back to the Riders, who would lead the rest of the way.
Schafer led the way for Devils Lake with 15 points and was one of three players to reach double figures in scoring for the Firebirds. Swanson and Lysne both ended the game with 14 points.
Devils Lake’s ability to overtake the Riders down the stretch was hampered by free throw shooting and turnovers.
The Firebirds managed just 10 of 17 free throws in the second half and finished with 30 turnovers in the contest.
Red River, which finished with 28 turnovers in the game, also placed a trio of players in double digits. Ellie Ripplinger netted a game-high 19 points while Nicole Ladoucer and Ashley Knecht added 14 and 13 points, respectively, for the Roughriders.
Devils Lake, which is now 3-9 on the season, will try to get back on the winning track on Friday when the Firebirds travel to Fargo to take on Fargo North.
GF Red River (67): Ellie Ripplinger 19, Nicole Ladoucer 14, Ashley Knecht 13, Hadley Steffen 7, Payton Salquist 7, JoDee Wheeler 6, Shelly Bommersbach 1.
Devils Lake (58): Sarah Schafer 15, Taylor Swanson 14, Christa Lysne 14, Madison Walford 8, Dru Lunday 4, Josie Knowski 2, Cassidy Nelson 1.
Halftime: Red River 26-25.
