Devils Lake girls’ basketball adapting to less-experienced roster

Devils Lake girls’ basketball has had a mountain of success over two years in Class A.

The first year, the Firebirds won the state championship. It ended a 37-year state title drought. Last season, they won the region championship. They eventually lost in the state semifinals and finished fourth in the state tournament.

After all that success, it’s looking like things might not come as easily this year.

“It’s a lot different when you can’t play 8, 10, 11 girls,” Devils Lake head coach Justin Klein said. “So the style of our play has got to change a little bit. And we have to be a little bit smarter with the fouls, obviously.”

The reason for that is Devils Lake lost a powerful group of seniors. Torri Fee, Cabryn Fritel, Claire Heilman, Jolie Martinson, Anna Shock and Kendra Eckes were all key contributors over the Firebirds’ impressive two-year run.

With only two returning starters, the Firebirds are still trying to settle into their roles.

“We need more,” Klein said. “It’s not going to be good enough to play the way we’re playing or taking chances. … We need the bench to step up and give us a break at times. And we’re going to have some work to do on that.”

Leading the way, now, is junior Tylie Brodina. An All-State Second Team selection last year, Brodina carries the most experience and success of anyone on the team. She won state tournament MVP two years ago as a freshman.

She’s no longer the young up-and-comer. Brodina has firmly established herself as one of the top players in the state.

“She’s going to see a lot of junk defenses. She’s going to see some chasers. She’s going to see some latching and things like that,” Klein said. “So I think Tylie’s game is going to be important. We know she can score. We know she can hit the three and slash and run transition. But I think the important thing for Tylie is going to be when to give the ball up and when not to. … I think as the season goes on, she’s going to have to make some adjustments to her game, just on the offensive end, because they’re going to take a lot of things away.”

Brodina averaged 15.4 points per game last season. She opened this season with 40 points over her first two games.

The question now is what Devils Lake can get around her.

Another leader going into this year is senior Presley Brown. This is technically the first season where she’s had a fully guaranteed starting role from the beginning, although she got plenty of playing time last year and finished as an all-region selection. Like Brodina, she’s shown up when it’s mattered, too, making the all-state tournament team each of the last two years.

Brown averaged 10.5 points per game last season. She scores the vast majority of her points in the paint.

Ideally, Brodina and Brown can help guide some of the less-experienced players who are seeing increased roles.

“That’s what we’re hoping,” Klein said. “And again, we need some more bench players to step in and help. Presley and Tylie have been there, and Ava [Beck], they’ve been around the longest. Mia [Elsperger] and Jenae [Martinson], too, we’re giving them a chance, and hopefully they’ll feel a little bit more comfortable as time goes on because they’re not sitting behind other good players now. It’s their turn.”

Beck, a junior, started seeing substantial varsity time as a freshman. She’s now slid in as the starting point guard.

Elsperger, a senior, started to see some more time last year, too. She and Beck are both having a lot more asked of them this season.

Martinson, the younger sister of last year’s departed senior Jolie, is now a senior and one of the captains.

The least experienced starter now is Emma Hofstad, a sophomore. She first made the varsity roster last season but got limited time. She might have had the biggest role increase of anyone on the team.

“She’s a very athletic kid that can do a lot down low,” Klein said. “She’s a post presence that we need, but she’s got to know when to take a chance and when not to.”

The Firebirds’ growing pains were apparent in their first two home games. On the bright side, they went neck-and-neck with No. 1 Valley City. On the down side, they got into foul trouble quickly and struggled from the free throw line. They’ve also had difficulties finding consistent scoring threats around Brodina and Brown.

Despite all the success they’ve had in region play over the last two years, they know it’s not going to be a cake walk.

Region foes Carrington and Thompson are both ranked in the top five. The region also has two new teams in it this year, with Harvey/Wells County and 2023-24 Class B state champion May-Port-C-G.

“Top to bottom, it’s pretty tough. And you’re going to have to bring your A game,” Klein said. “And you don’t play everybody twice, so some of these games will be huge. And it’s a long season, and you just want to put yourself in a position to get to that state tournament at the end. And you don’t want to be playing from behind at the region tournament. You don’t want to be a low seed.”

Losing its first two games at home was atypical of this program. Klein, now in his 14th year, has been around the block a little bit. Having led his team to so much success — particularly over the last two years — he expects opponents to give the Firebirds their best shot.

“We’ve just got to figure out some things, and it’s going to take some time,” Klein said. “But I would say there’s a target on their back because we’re a bigger school. We also won it the first year, so that’s a target. Nobody like us being in this division to begin with, especially in this region, and then especially when the region tournament’s going to be in Devils Lake. So hopefully that can be to our advantage, too, because there was a pretty good atmosphere out there [in the Sports Center].”