Photos by Cameron Carlson
DEVILS LAKE — Twice in a week’s span, the Firebirds played a rematch of last year’s region championship against Carrington.
And twice in a week’s span, Devils Lake dropped a close one.
The Firebirds (8-7, 4-3) lost 54-47 on their home court Monday. The No. 5-ranked Cardinals (13-3, 10-1) won their 11th in a row.
“We need more fight in us,” Devils Lake head coach Justin Klein said. “Right now, we’re kind of at a lull. We don’t have much fight in us. And our leadership right now is not stepping up the way it should because we’re kind of, I think, looking for those seniors from last year. And we don’t have them. So now it’s like, ‘Oh crap. Now what are we going to do?’”
Six days after falling 62-56 to Carrington in overtime, the Firebirds got off to leads of 5-0 and 7-2.
The Cardinals, more known for their defense, took almost four minutes to make a field goal.
But Aniston Hoornaert, who eventually scored a career-high 25, made 4-of-4 free throws and hit three triples in the first half as Carrington took over. Sienna Topp added a pair of threes.
In the second half, the Cardinals leaned more on 5-foot-11 center Maara Kutz, who scored seven in the third quarter. She was second on Carrington with 12 points.
“We had to change it up a little bit because they were hitting those threes. So we went and said, ‘Don’t double. Don’t double. Don’t help,’” Klein said. “Well, then they took it inside, and then we had no answer. We didn’t get in front of the post. … We didn’t do much to defend. We just kind of stood there and let them take it at us.”
The Cardinals outplayed Devils Lake on the boards all night. Their shooting percentage wasn’t necessarily pristine, but they gave themselves plenty of extra chances — and it made the difference.
“They’re not a high-scoring team; they rely on their defense,” Klein said. “But when you give a team three or four shots a possession, eventually they’re going to make them.”
Devils Lake forwards Mia Elsperger and Presley Brown each scored in spurts but got into foul trouble in the first half.
The Firebirds got it down low to Elsperger three times for six points in the first quarter, but she reached three fouls midway through the second quarter. Brown had two fouls in the first three minutes of the game, forcing her to sit for most of the first quarter before returning in the second for six points.
All in all, Devils Lake couldn’t attack Carrington consistently. Tylie Brodina was the leading scorer with 16 points — one field goal in each quarter, along with 7-of-7 free throws.
The Cardinals came in averaging 38.4 points allowed per game.
“Their size and their length — they have good athletes over there in Carrington,” Klein said. “They’re physical. They play well as a team. I think that was a big thing. … They move the basketball. They’re very unselfish players. And I think that makes them play good defense, and also makes them hit the open shots.”
Hoornaert’s third triple gave Carrington a 30-23 lead at halftime and 17 points individually, already creeping up on her previous career high of 20.
Devils Lake got within five in the third quarter and six in the fourth, but could never put together a true second-half run. The Firebirds didn’t have any field goals in the second half until more than three minutes in.
Devils Lake only got three points off its bench, all from Emma Hofstad in the fourth quarter.
“Phyiscally, they kind of beat us up again,” Klein said. “And our physicality, we shied away from things. Couldn’t get a lot of open shots. Really struggled on offense, I thought.”
Brown and Elsperger each finished with 11 points. Ava Beck added six.
After the game, Klein confirmed that Dottie Goss, who took a fall in last week’s game against Carrington, is out for the season.
“We’re just kind of banged up a little bit here with playing Carrington,” Klein said, “and they kind of know how to get to us.”
What’s next
The bad news for Devils Lake is that things don’t get much easier. The Firebirds travel to play the unanimous No. 1, South Prairie-Max, on Tuesday.
These teams have some history against each other. They played each other in the 2024 state championship game — a Devils Lake win — and the 2025 third-place game — an SP-M win.
The only game the Royals have lost was to Carrington in the season opener. Since then, they’ve won 15 in a row. A few days ago, they handed Dunseith a 101-28 defeat.
“We haven’t been there, so that’ll be a good new experience for us,” Klein said. “They’re on a roll, too. … They’ve been putting up a lot of points lately. So I think we’re going to have to try to contain them and mix some defenses up, and hopefully we can keep up with them.”
Now the good news for the Firebirds: They still have seven region points on the table. It’s a competitive region, but Devils Lake still has a chance to earn a high seeding.
“It’s going to be tough, though, because we’ve got Hillsboro and Four Winds, which are not easy games. And then Thompson,” Klein said. “We can’t slip if we want to stay at the top or play a little bit easier team in the first round. So that’s important. That was a message we had in the locker room, that we’ve got to remember Friday, Monday and Friday. And they’re all at home, so hopefully that helps us.”
The Firebirds will host Hillsboro/Central Valley, Four Winds/Minnewaukan and Thompson on Feb. 6, 9 and 13, respectively. They’ll finish their region schedule at Grafton on Feb. 17.
