Ava Beck (Photo by Cameron Carlson)
DEVILS LAKE — For the second time in their first five games of the season, the Firebirds had a game go down to the final seconds.
And for the second time, they fell just short.
“We’ve just got to learn from our mistakes. I think we made too many mistakes down the stretch again,” head coach Justin Klein said. “I think we had some chances.”
Devils Lake girls’ basketball (2-3) saw its two-game winning streak end at the hands of a Class AA opponent, Minot North (3-1), in the first leg of a doubleheader Monday at the Devils Lake Sports Center.
The Firebirds fell 80-78 in overtime.
They committed nearly 30 turnovers in the loss.
“We turned the ball over too much,” Klein said. “I didn’t think that we worked hard enough on offense to get open.”
Devils Lake had to work out of an early hole. Minot North ended the first quarter on an 11-0 run to go up 25-15. The Sentinels led by as many as 11.
“We probably could have gotten better shots,” Klein said. “They played a zone, and that kind of threw us off. We haven’t seen that yet, too. That was kind of a little bit of a wrinkle for us.”
Minot North eighth-grader Cambree Phillips continuously got to the rim. She scored 13 points on six field goals in the opening quarter.
Senior Presley Brown led the Firebirds all night long. She had a team-high 28 points, including 14 in the first half. Devils Lake got within five by the end of the second quarter.
“Presley did a nice job. Very consistent throughout the whole game,” KLein said. “Took the ball to the hole and hit some big shots. … She was hot tonight, and we were feeding her.”
The Firebirds also got one triple each from Tylie Brodina and Jenae Martinson in the first half.
They sprung ahead in the third quarter, with runs of 7-0 and 9-0. Brodina hit her second triple, and Brown continued to play a relentless game in the paint. She airballed a three at one point, but she retrieved her own rebound and made a layup.
She also had a mid-range that tied it, 46-46. Emma Hofstad put Devils Lake ahead with a layup.
The Firebirds entered the fourth quarter leading by three, 54-51.
Minot North opened the final period of regulation with a 9-0 run. Phillips had a steal and back-to-back layups, while sophomore Elli Laskowski hit a three.
Laskowski entered the contest averaging 32 points through three games. She averaged 19.6 last season as a freshman.
She had a moderate first half with nine points, but she broke out in the second half to carry the Sentinels. She scored 18 points between the third and fourth quarter, while also blocking shots near the rim and rebounding.
“We knew she was tough,” Klein said. “She’s probably leading the state in scoring right now. I was impressed. She’s a physical player. She’s real smooth with the ball. … I bet she probably had 10, 12 blocks on us. She did a nice job down low, I thought. And we didn’t have an answer for her.”
Despite Laskowski’s rampage, Devils Lake wasn’t done. The Firebirds, while down six, went on an 8-0 run to go back ahead, 62-60. An errant pass from the Sentinels led to Ava Beck converting a go-ahead layup.
Devils Lake led by as many as six in the fourth quarter. Brown had an and-one that Sentinels coach Justin Lauf vocally disagreed with. Brodina got going with a pair of field goals late in regulation.
But just as Devils Lake grabbed a 68-62 lead, Minot North went on a 7-0 run. Laskowski made an and-one and a layup off of a turnover.
“I thought their pressure kind of got to us,” Klein said. “We threw the ball away too many times. And they capitalized. They beat us deep a couple times, too, on a press, so that took us out of it. But we didn’t do a very good job capitalizing when we turned them over.”
With 1:20 on the clock, a Devils Lake turnover led to go-ahead free throws by Minot North’s Kinzy Welstad.
Brown got to the line at the 1:01 mark. She made 1-of-2 free throws to tie it, 69-69.
The Sentinels took too long on their last possession, sending the game to overtime.
Laskowski kept rolling in the extra four-minute period. She hit her third triple of the night and totaled eight points in overtime.
She led Minot North on a 6-0 run all on her own, with an and-one and a three-pointer to make it 75-70.
Brodina responded with her own three. After a Brown mid-range shot, it was tied up again in a flash.
Laskowski committed a foul with 17 seconds left, the Sentinels leading 79-77. Beck converted 1-of-2 free throws.
Down 80-78 after Welstad also made 1-of-2 free throws, the Firebirds couldn’t make anything happen on their last possession. The ball went out of bounds with 0.7 seconds left.
Devils Lake had to settle for a hard-fought loss.
Brodina, despite just five points in the first half, ended up totaling 19 to finish second behind Brown on the team. She had nine in the second half and five in overtime. Beck added 12.
Laskowski finished with a game-high 35 points, including 26 between the second half and overtime. Phillips was right behind her with 29.
“You can’t give someone 35 points and expect to win,” Klein said.
The Firebirds bring a 2-3 record into Christmas. Because of last week’s postponement against Carrington, they still haven’t played a region game, and they won’t play one until Jan. 9.
“It’s one of those deals where we’ve got some things to clean up,” Klein said. “I guess a loss to a non-region opponent is better than a region opponent. But we’ve got to be cleaner on offense, and we’ve got to do a better job moving the basketball.”
