Hill: Devils Lake fortunate to have a state title as championships continue to elude top two seeds

JAMESTOWN — The top two seeds of the Division A girls’ basketball state tournament were hungry for a title.

Neither of them got one.

Valley City spoiled No. 2 seed Thompson’s hopes on Friday, then shattered No. 1 seed South Prairie-Max’s dreams on Saturday. The Hi-Liners won their second consecutive state title with a 69-62 win over SP-M on Saturday at the Jamestown Civic Center.

It ended the Royals’ 25-game winning streak.

“We had one heck of a run,” SP-M head coach Cory MacIver said. “To go on the run that we did to finish out, it’s just something special.”

Devils Lake may have had a more difficult season compared to the last two years. It was smoother sailing for SP-M and Thompson.

But, in the three-history of Division A, the Firebirds have something those teams don’t: a state championship.

“As long as we can get here, and we keep getting here, I think that’s the success for the program,” Devils Lake head coach Justin Klein said. “Because then you never know what happens once you get here.”

Firebirds have a tough showing but hold their heads high

Devils Lake — which lost to the eventual state champion on Thursday — had its worst state tournament of the last three years.

The Firebirds finished in seventh.

Over the previous two seasons, Devils Lake was one of the hot shots — a state champion in 2024, then seeded No. 1 in 2025.

Success was far less guaranteed in 2026. And far less easy.

The Firebirds never won more than three games in a row all season. They dropped close games to Valley City, Thompson and Carrington. They got smacked by SP-M and Turtle Mountain.

It seemed like, when Devils Lake clinched a state berth, that it was a little sweeter than the last two years because of everything the Firebirds had to overcome to get there. Players Tylie Brodina, Mia Elsperger and Presley Brown all had similar things to say about how they thought they were doubted by the rest of the state.

“It just feels good to kind of prove everybody wrong,” Brodina said at the time.

Three of the Firebirds’ starting five were first-year starters. Finding a consistent third scorer was a challenge at times. There was a lot of inexperience, in general, on the floor. They allowed the third-most points per game in the region.

Yet, in a season where they lost to Carrington and Thompson a combined five times, they managed to get to the state tournament anyway.

“We feel very accomplished,” senior Jenae Martinson said. “Very happy we got to be here this weekend.”

Meanwhile, SP-M and Thompson each came into the tournament with the expectation of winning it all. Both programs have had plentiful success over the last few years, with zero state championships to show for it.

“It gets reminded every once in a while. I mean, we have a state title, and those teams don’t,” Klein said. “And you never know. Sometimes, your best teams that you have don’t win state titles. Sometimes, the team that you don’t think is your best team as a coach ends up winning because things fall into place. Certain things happen.”

While this year’s disappointment might be lingering for the Firebirds, they were fortunate to get through this multi-year window with at least one state championship. Not every team — even some of the best ones — get that.

It’s a lesson Thompson learned the hard way.

“It’s extremely hard just to get to a state tournament,” Thompson head coach Jason Brend said. “And then when you get to it, getting to that semifinal round is extremely hard. And winning there, it’s even harder. So it definitely takes a lot of hard work. It takes a lot of determination. And it takes a little luck.”

Thompson falls just short again

The Tommies have been to a state semifinal in four consecutive seasons. In 2024, they were the consensus No. 1 before getting upset by SP-M in the semis.

Devils Lake then beat SP-M in the championship.

“Thompson, they’ve been in that semifinal game. You can put them in. It’s a lock. You can bet on that,” Klein said. “But they haven’t won a state title either. We got one.”

In 2025, the Tommies were considered an underdog against the Firebirds after they’d lost to them twice during the regular season. Thompson upset Devils Lake in the semis, then lost to Valley City in the championship.

Coming into the latest state tournament, some people were predicting Thompson to win it all.

The Tommies lost their rematch with Valley City on Friday, 60-52, in the semis — ending their state title hopes once again.

“There was a lot of tears in the locker room,” Brend said Saturday. “Last night, it was a lot of sadness.”

Thompson (23-4) ended up beating Kindred 79-53 in the third-place game. A strong finish — but not a state championship.

Brend said there were mixed emotions in the locker room.

“A lot of them, their career’s over. For all of them, the season’s over,” Brend said. “We’re very proud, at the same time, of what we’ve accomplished. We talked to them about what they’ve done for our program and how they’ve taken it to new levels. It’s an emotional time right now after a state tournament. It’s never going to be easy.”

The Tommies have been one of the state’s best basketball programs in recent years.

Despite losing six seniors, including stars Addison Sage and Kya Hurst, Thompson expects to be a consistent contributor for years to come.

“It’s always sad to see them go. But our expectations are going to remain high. We’ve got a lot of good players who will be coming back,” Brend said. “Our expectations are always going to be high, and I think that’s one of the key components to our program.”

Brend and Sage took home Division A Coach and Senior Athlete of the Year honors, respectively.

SP-M’s dominant run ends at hands of Valley City

SP-M finds itself in the same boat as Thompson: a really good program that hasn’t gotten over the hump.

“South Prairie is another team, they’ve been in both basketball and volleyball in the state tournament, and they don’t have a title to show for them, either,” Klein said.

For most of the season, it felt like that drought would end.

After losing to Carrington on Dec. 1, the Royals dominated for a 25-game stretch that extended into March. During that streak, 24 of their wins were by double-digit margins.

It looked like they meant business.

Instead, it was heartbreak all over again.

“I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls to go on this ride with,” MacIver said. “It always hurts to lose the last one, because then you have to dwell on it a little bit, and you’ve got all offseason to think about it.”

SP-M (25-2) led 19-7 after the first quarter, but Valley City (22-4) hit some threes late in the first half to tie it at the break.

Valley City’s Katie Burchill, the MVP of the tournament, led the Hi-Liners with 28 points in the comeback. They outrebounded the Royals 34-27.

“They’re just so physical underneath,” MacIver said. “And I knew that was going to be an issue, and that was going to be a concern of ours. … We just got a little tired. We just kind of got a little frustrated from lack of offensive output.”

Valley City has now won the Division A state title twice in the three-year history of the current class system.

The Hi-Liners won it this year despite losing to Central Cass in the region tournament and barely beating Wahpeton and Carrington.

“My hat’s off to Valley City. They’re a great team,” MacIver said. “To go back-to-back in this division is something really special. They had to really claw to get to the state tournament. So we knew that we weren’t going to give it up easy.”

When the Royals lost in the state championship two years ago, they were considered a young team.

Those young players blossomed into the leaders of this year’s team: senior starters Skotti Beck, Abigail Mikkelson, Brianna Rose and Maycie Talbott, along with NDSU-committed junior Rylee Routledge.

“They realized that this is something that they really wanted to get, especially those four senior girls,” MacIver said. “Something they really wanted to, finally, after three years of trying to get that monkey off our back — and we just weren’t able to do it.”

Routledge will be the Royals’ only returning starter next year. But SP-M’s aspirations haven’t changed.

“We’re excited, already thinking about next year,” MacIver said. “It’s going to continue to be our goal until we can achieve it. And I truly, honestly feel that there’s going to be a time where we’re going to be able to do it.”

What’s next?

While Thompson and SP-M continue to try to get over the hump, Devils Lake will try to work towards returning to where it was.

“Moving forward, I think we’ve got some underclassmen who are going to come back next year ready to go,” Klein said. “But we’ve got some holes to fill, and that’s just something we have to do in the offseason.”

Valley City has the target on its back now. Everyone in Division A will be trying to stop the three-peat.

Win or lose, champions or not, every coach agreed on one thing: It’s really hard to win one of these state tournaments. It’s not something that any team takes for granted.

So, for Devils Lake to have won one — in the first year of the division, no less — is something that should be cherished. It doesn’t mean the Firebirds should be satisfied, or that they shouldn’t try to win one again. But it does mean that they accomplished something most teams don’t. And they followed it up with a pair of more-than-respectable seasons.

They’ll have to wait until next winter to continue writing their story.