DEVILS LAKE — After two close region losses to a top-five team in Carrington, and a beating at the hands of No. 1 South Prairie-Max, a region win was just what the doctor ordered for Devils Lake girls’ basketball.
The Firebirds handled Hillsboro/Central Valley on their home court. Devils Lake (9-8, 6-3) won 62-55 in a two-point region counter over the Burros (10-9, 5-8) on Friday.
“The last two games were pretty hard,” Firebirds guard Tylie Brodina said. “So I think just to bounce back and get a win, it was really good for our team.”
The Firebirds avoided what would have been their first three-game losing streak of the season. It was the third two-point region game they’ve won this year; their three region losses were all one-point games.
“We needed that one, especially since these are two-pointers,” Devils Lake head coach Justin Klein said. “It was a good, hard-fought win, I thought. And we got contributions kind of from everybody.”
The Burros, who recorded a win over Carrington in December, made Devils Lake earn it. They got off to a hot start, leading 22-16 at one point in the second quarter.
H/CV senior forward Paige Cotton scored 10 in the first quarter to fuel the attack. The Burros were a step in front of Devils Lake and made layups in transition.
During this stretch, Jenae Martinson sat after quickly reaching two fouls. Brodina and Elsperger, despite not being in foul trouble, sat for some time as well. Tenley Triepke, Julia Rohr and Chassidy Rodacker got some early minutes.
Klein wanted to preemptively stay away from early-game fouls.
“I knew they were aggressive, and I knew they played hard,” Klein said. “So I kind of wanted to make sure that we kept ourselves out of foul trouble. So that’s kind of why I went to the bench a little bit quicker and gave a little bit more minutes early on.”
The Firebirds were out of whack offensively for much of the first half. They missed layups, lost control of the ball and didn’t move the ball at their best. They took more than five minutes of the second quarter to make a field goal.
H/CV began to struggle as well, though, on the offensive end.
Brodina and Elsperger got going late in the first half, with five and six points, respectively, in the second quarter. Brodina also made some nice passes down low.
Brodina’s second triple of the game made it 28-22 — finishing the half on a 12-0 run for Devils Lake. The run stretched to 16-0 in the second half.
“We all just started working really hard on defense, and that caused us to get layups,” Brodina said. “And I think just overall, we played really good as a team, and just worked really hard.”
The Burros continued to struggle offensively for most of the third quarter. Devils Lake’s lead grew as wide as 40-23. Martinson got back in the game and scored six in the third quarter, complementing Brodina’s six. Elsperger and Presley Brown each made a bucket.
“I thought we rotated better in the second half. We went some zone, and I thought we rotated a little bit better and got out on them,” Klein said. “I thought we did a nice job taking away their post, [Paityn] Olson. She only had two points. And I think that was a key there, keeping her off the boards.”
H/CV didn’t help itself out at the free throw line. The Burros made just 4-of-11 in the first three quarters.
The Burros of the first quarter reemerged in spurts down the stretch of the second half. They had an 11-2 run in the third quarter that trimmed the lead back down to single digits. Cotton scored nine in the second half to finish with 19, a team high for H/CV.
The Burros also got it together from the free throw line at the end, going 6-for-6 from the stripe in the fourth quarter. Freshman Rayna Betner made a triple as part of a 14-point performance, with 10 in the second half.
The Burros had Devils Lake’s lead down to six on three separate occasions in the fourth quarter. Brown had a key and-one as Hadley Abentroth fouled out.
Brodina added five points in the quarter, including her third triple of the night. She played most of the quarter despite reaching four fouls with 6:23 to go.
“It doesn’t really affect me too much,” Brodina said. “I just try not to foul as much and play good defense. Don’t use my hands. So I guess it wasn’t really too bad.”
Brodina scored a game-high 21 points.
But a 7-0 Burros run kept them in it in the final two minutes. Betner made a three, and a steal led to a Cotton layup, suddenly slicing the lead down to 60-55.
A layup by Brown — giving her 10 on the night — separated the Firebirds enough to hold on. The Burros wasted any chance of a last-minute comeback by dribbling around too long in the final seconds.
Elsperger’s 10-point game tied for second on the team with Brown. Emma Hofstad added eight off the bench, all in the second half. Martinson also scored all six of her points in the second half.
“I thought in the second half, we finished better at the rim,” Klein said. “We made a few shots that we didn’t make, I think, in the first half, when we were kind of stale on offense. They mixed up their defense in the second half, though, too, and went some zone. So that kind of threw us off a little bit. But once we adjusted, we did a nice job.”
What’s next
Devils Lake has another big two-point region game on Monday against cross-lake rival Four Winds/Minnewaukan.
The Indians are a vastly improved team from last year. While Devils Lake sits in fourth place, FW/M is currently in third with an 8-4 region record. The Indians have won 11 games after getting just five wins all of last season.
“They’ve got a full squad now. Last year, they had some injuries that hurt them,” Klein said. “But yeah, they’ll be a tough one on Monday. We get a day off tomorrow and come back to practice Sunday afternoon, and then get ready for Four Winds on Monday. … If we can knock them off, that would be a big boost for us.”
The vibes around the team are much better after getting back in the win column.
“I think we’re all excited,” Brodina said. “We’ve just got to lock in on Sunday in our practice and get some good film on [the Indians], and just come in with a new positive attitude and work hard, and I think we’ll be okay.”
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