Suri Gourd navigates around a Watford City guard at the Devils Lake Sports Center. (Photo by Cameron Carlson)
DEVILS LAKE — Despite a moderate game from Suri Gourd — by her standards — Four Winds/Minnewaukan led Watford City by as many as 17.
The Indians, though, couldn’t finish it out. Their lead gradually slipped away in the second half, en route to their second straight loss.
FW/M (8-3) fell 70-61 to Watford City (8-3) on Friday in the Devils Lake Youth Activities Shootout.
“There’s some times where we’re getting complacent,” Indians head coach Sean Gourd Sr. said. “We settle. We’re ahead, we’ve got the lead, so we started coasting. We’re not a third-quarter, second-half team. And we’ve got to turn that around. We just take plays off, I think, at times.”
Gourd’s average points per game has hovered around 30 for most of the season. Combined with double figures from players like Cailee Hanson and Dru Longie, FW/M put 86 on Wahpeton and 85 on Grafton.
But the Indians scored 33 in a region loss to Carrington on Monday.
Early in Friday’s contest, their scoring was more balanced than usual. FW/M’s first 14 points were scored by players other than Gourd.
After opening in a 2-0 deficit, the Indians didn’t trail again until the fourth quarter. Their largest lead was 37-20. Hanson, who led FW/M with 16 overall, scored 10 in the first half. Gourd and Patience Dunn each added eight before the break.
“We got balance, and that’s what I always want,” Gourd Sr. said. “But we got girls that were wide open on some shots, and they didn’t drop.”
In the early going, the Indians rebounded well and generally played a solid game in the paint. Mercie Morgan had five first-half points. Sophia Alberts added four off the bench.
Despite Gourd not at her best, the Indians were playing one of their most complete games this season. And Gourd still got going late in the first quarter, scoring eight first-half points.
“There’s times where we look great,” Gourd Sr. said. “We’re hitting on all cylinders. We’re playing good defense.”
Watford City’s first triple of the game made it 31-18. The Wolves ended the first half on a 5-0 run, cutting FW/M’s lead to 37-25 at halftime.
Gourd was charged with two fouls in the third quarter, giving her four on the night.
With how valuable Gourd is to the team, her dad kept her on the court for the vast majority of the game.
“A couple of those calls were probably suspect, I thought,” Gourd Sr. said. “But it is what it is. The ref ain’t gonna change the call. It’s hard to not have her because, ball-handler-wise, we’ve got probably two solid ball handlers with Cailee and Suri. But I don’t know. It’s a tough one.”
On the positive side for FW/M, all five starters scored in the third quarter. On the negative, only one of them — Longie — made more than one field goal.
Gourd was limited to two points in the third quarter. The Indians still led, 48-43, but Watford City was picking up momentum quickly. The Wolves got back into the game with two triples and numerous rebounds and fast-breaks.
“I think it was a triangle, too, they came at us,” Gourd Sr. said. “And we just couldn’t figure it out. I mean, girls were wide open, and we just didn’t knock them down. We didn’t make them pay for it.”
Watford City opened the fourth quarter with a layup off a turnover — setting the tone for its eventual comeback.
Longie and Hanson had key baskets to help FW/M cling to a lead in the middle of the fourth quarter. With the Indians up 52-51, another turnover led to a go-ahead layup by Bailey Mattson.
FW/M took a timeout. It now trailed, 53-52.
“They didn’t stop working the whole game,” Gourd Sr. said of the Wolves. “I think we just got out-hustled. I’ll have to go back and look at video, I’m sure, tonight. And I’ll see what exactly happened.”
A nice pass from Hanson to Dunn got the Indians back up. Watford City responded right away with an and-one. The Indians struggled to finish drives, and a three by Annabelle Bohn separated the Wolves.
At one point, Watford City had breakaways on back-to-back plays.
With just over a minute on the clock, Gourd hustled down the court and made her second triple to get FW/M within four. She totaled 13 points. She only made two field goals in the second half.
The Indians wound up fouling for most of the game’s remainder. Watford City went 10-for-13 from the line in the quarter, including 6-for-6 from Mattson. She scored 17 points in the second half to finish with a game-high 26.
Hanson made a last-second layup for the Indians to avoid a double-digit loss.
Things still got away from FW/M in a hurry.
“We’re going to have to go back to the drawing board,” Gourd Sr. said, “and take a look at it and see what happened here.”
Dunn was third on the team with 12 points. Longie had a solid second half with six points; she and Morgan each had eight overall.
The Indians will travel to Rugby next, looking to get back on track. It’s their first real losing streak this year — halting what’s been a redemptive season.
“We’ve got potential,” Gourd Sr. said. “We just haven’t found that consistency. We’re not a good second-half team right now. We just got outworked that second half, and we have to stick with it.”
Firebirds snowed out
Due to weather conditions, Shiloh Christian was unable to make it to this week’s shootout.
The Skyhawks had been scheduled to play Devils Lake Friday at 1:30 p.m. and Four Winds/Minnewaukan Saturday at 11 a.m.
Devils Lake’s lone game in the shootout will be Saturday at 5 p.m. against Kindred. The Indians won’t have a game Saturday.
Other scores from Friday at the Sports Center
Central Cass 31, No. 3 Turtle Mountain 65
Rugby 35, Kindred 49
No. 4 Thompson 66, No. 2 Valley City 56
