This time there would be no need for late-game heroics.
Devils Lake led from start to finish and in the end the Firebirds notched an impressive 74-64 win over No. 1-ranked Fargo South on Tuesday at the Devils Lake Sports Center.
The win improved Devils Lake to 8-5 on the season and 5-3 in the Eastern Dakota Conference. It also avenged a lopsided loss to the Bruins three weeks ago.
“We sometimes underestimate what we can do,” Devils Lake junior Hannah Elshaug said. “(Tuesday) we just played really well as a team. We played our game by running and tiring (South) out.”
What Elshaug and the Firebirds did was take advantage of the absence of Bruin standout Meghan Roehrich, who missed the game because of an illness, and simply prevented Fargo South from getting into any offensive flow the whole night.
“That’s not like us, we got flustered,” said Bruin coach Craig Flaagan, whose team fell for the second straight time after losing to cross-town rival Fargo North last week in overtime.
The back-to-back losses are the first for the Bruins in three seasons, according to Flaagan.
“We had a really tough time stopping the posts inside,” Flaagan added. “When you score 64 points, you should win.”
But, Elshaug, and teammate Haley Prozinski made sure the Bruins didn’t come away with the victory.
Elshaug finished with 19 points and nine rebounds to lead the Firebirds in both of those departments, while Prozinski added seven points and seven rebounds of her own.
Both Devils Lake standouts also grabbed four offensive rebounds and helped the Firebirds to a commanding 33-18 edge in that department.
“Offensive rebounding was a big-time problem,” Flaagan added. “We can’t play volleyball with a team like Devils Lake. They are an athletic bunch and we gave them far too many opportunities to score.”
If the offensive rebounding were a woe for the Bruins, so was the defensive pressure applied by the Firebirds throughout the game.
Devils Lake forced South into 25 turnovers, with three of those coming in a two-minute stretch midway through the second half that virtually put the game away for the Firebirds.
After South had cut into a 40-33 halftime deficit by scoring six of the first eight points of the half and closing to within 42-39, Elshaug scored on consecutive trips down the floor to help Devils Lake take a 46-43 lead with 14:29 remaining.
That would be as close as the Bruins would get the rest of the way.
Jacklyn Knowski’s shot field goal sparked the Firebirds. Ashli Whalen and Stephanie Mertens both picked the ball away from Fargo South in a 12-second span and converted into baskets to put the Firebirds in front 52-43 with 12:54 left in the game.
Mertens’ 3-pointer at the 5:47 mark gave the Firebirds a 67-53 advantage.
Mertens and Kasi Eisenzimmer finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Burck led all scorers with 20 points for the Bruins.
Fargo South (64): Siri Burck 20, Alley Fisher 14, Katie Felch 12, Jasmine Moffett 12, Racquel Wellentin 6.
Devils Lake (74): Hannah Elshaug 19, Stephanie Mertens 12, Kasi Eisenzimmer 11, Mackenzie Wade 7, Jacklyn Knowksi 7, Haley Prozinski 7, Ashli Whalen 6, Chelsea Kurtz 5.
3-pointers: FS 2 (Fisher 2), DL 3 (Knowski 1, Mertens 1, Eisenzimmer 1). Rebounds: FS 36 (Moffett 5), DL 55 (Elshaug 9). Fouls: FS 17, DL 14. Fouled out: none. Assists: FS 14 (Burck 5), DL 17 (Mertens 10). Steals: FS 13 (Felch 5), DL 18 (Mertens 6). Blocked shots: FS 2 (Burck 1, Moffett 1), DL 1 (Prozinski 1). Turnovers: FS 25, DL 23.
Halftime: Devils Lake 42-33
Devils Lake, ND —
