Jenae Martinson (14) and Tylie Brodina (13) turn their heads while watching a play commence farther down the court. (Photo by Mojo Hill)
DEVILS LAKE — It’s official: Devils Lake girls’ basketball will be the No. 3 seed in the Region 2 tournament, set to be held in Devils Lake from Feb. 23-26.
The Firebirds entered Friday needing to beat Thompson by more than 10 points to have a chance at the No. 2 seed. Instead, Devils Lake (10-9, 8-4) lost 69-60 to the No. 4-ranked Tommies (17-3, 12-2) at the Devils Lake Sports Center.
It was the Firebirds’ second loss to Thompson this season.
The Tommies, who will be the No. 2 seed, completed their regular-season region schedule having only lost to No. 1 seed Carrington. Devils Lake still has a two-pointer against Grafton left, but the result won’t change the Firebirds’ seeding one way or the other.
Devils Lake’s four region losses all came to the top two teams — but all four games, Friday’s included, were competitive. The Firebirds had previously fallen 63-53 to Thompson. Against Carrington, they lost by six in overtime and by seven in regulation.
“We’re in the games. We’re doing things that we need to, but we’re not able to finish,” Devils Lake head coach Justin Klein said. “Hopefully come region tournament — because that’s the most important time — we can knock them off.”
The Firebirds led at the half of Friday’s contest, 33-32. They trailed for most of the half, but never by more than six.
Presley Brown got to the rim numerous times and made 4-of-6 free throws, good for 12 points in the first half.
Tylie Brodina was quiet early on, but she made two huge shots late in the half. One was a three-point play to get Devils Lake within one, and another was a step-back triple to give the Firebirds the lead before the buzzer.
“I thought we did a good job closing out the half,” Klein said.
Thompson attacked Devils Lake with clean, open down-low passes all game. The Tommies never really let up on that front. Addison Sage scored a game-high 21 points, while Kya Hurst and Claire Kolling each scored 11 in the second half to finish with 18 and 16, respectively.
After two threes by Sage in the first quarter, though, the Tommies were limited to three triples the rest of the night. Sage didn’t make any three-pointers after the first quarter.
“So not bad,” Klein said. “We don’t want [Sage] taking those threes. We want her to drive.”
Sage had a big first quarter with 10 points, but she didn’t make a field goal in the second. Hurst had a relatively mild seven-point first half. Thompson, as a team, only had three field goals in the second quarter.
“We played a really nice first half,” Klein said. “I thought we did a good job on Sage and Hurst.”
The Firebirds led by as many as three after an early layup by Brodina in the second half.
But they couldn’t keep up, lagging behind on an 11-0 Thompson run. Devils Lake struggled to crack the Tommies’ adjusted defense in the second half. The Firebirds were limited to four field goals in the third quarter.
“I think the difference maker, I’ll be honest, was they went zone. And we couldn’t hit shots,” Klein said. “And we got some good looks. Tylie got some really good looks in the second half. I think we also kind of were a little flustered as to where to pass and where to go, because they haven’t seen a 2-3 zone for a while. … Our execution against that zone was not good.”
During the 11-0 run, Hurst leapt for a put-back, while the Tommies’ efforts on the boards led to a game-separating three from Kolling.
After managing the boards in the first half, Devils Lake was outplayed by Thompson in that aspect in the second.
“The second half was worse than the first half,” Klein said. “I thought we did a nice job boxing out [in the first half]. … The second half, we gave them way too many second-chance points.”
The Firebirds trailed by as many as 11. They got within four early in the fourth quarter, though, after five quick points — including a three by Ava Beck.
Thompson didn’t make any triples in the fourth quarter. But the Firebirds still didn’t slow down the Tommies enough.
Fifteen combined points in the fourth quarter from Sage, Hurst and Kolling was ultimately too much for Devils Lake to handle, despite getting seven from Beck and four each from Brodina, Brown and Mia Elsperger.
“Part of the game plan was to play 1-on-1 on them, not give them the three and make them go to the rim,” Klein said. “They did that, and they finished. And hats off to them. They also have six seniors that have been through the system and know what’s going on. So it’s pretty hard to outsmart them, because their veteran leadership shows.”
Brown led the Firebirds with 18 on the night, while Brodina had 14 and Beck had 12 to fuel a decent offensive night, the third quarter notwithstanding.
Devils Lake’s next hurdle is Grafton. While the regular-season meetup won’t mean much, the Firebirds will likely see the Spoilers again in the first round of the region tournament, with Grafton currently the No. 6 seed.
The Firebirds travel to Central Cass on Saturday before completing the regular season at Grafton on Tuesday.
“I want to see us go up there and move the basketball, I guess, on offense, and get some good looks,” Klein said. “They’re a team that plays some zone also, so it’s going to be good. It’s a team, though, that we’ve got to get familiarized with because we’re going to play them in another week.”
The Spoilers have had a down year with a 3-6 region record. Assuming the Firebirds and Tommies take care of business in the first round, they would meet again in the semifinals.
“We know what these guys do. … It could be two opponents that you play twice in 10 days or 14 days,” Klein said. “So I think defensively, we need to get some pressure on the guards and create some steals and hopefully get some layups.”
