No. 5 Devils Lake basketball began the Class A Girls Shootout with a bang.
The Firebirds won handily Friday afternoon against the Shiloh Christian Skyhawks. They beat them 72-43 at Devils Lake Sports Center, led by a dominant second quarter and 20 points from Tylie Brodina.
“I thought we came ready to play. A 1:30 game; we don’t play at that time very often,” head coach Justin Klein said. “I thought they did a good job moving the basketball, and hit some open shots early and got them down. And I think Shiloh kind of folded after they got down 20 where it was just like, there was no coming back.”
The win moves Devils Lake to 7-3 on the season, while Shiloh Christian falls to 7-4. The teams are both in Division A but in different regions; the Firebirds are 2-1 in Region 2 play, while the Skyhawks have yet to play a game against a Region 4 opponent.
Shiloh Christian was in the game at the beginning. Though the Skyhawks struggled to get shots off early, back-to-back baskets from Emma Duffy and Emily Hammeren briefly put them ahead 4-3. Brodina carried the Firebirds, scoring 10 points in the first quarter.
“We know she can shoot it, and she’s been streaky,” Klein said. “She really started the season well, and had a couple games where they kind of took her out of the game and didn’t let her touch the ball. And now she’s gotten hot again, so hopefully that continues.”
Mistakes from Shiloh Christian kept Devils Lake in the lead as well; Hammeren missed a layup, and the Skyhawks were overall inconsistent on shooting. Dedra Wood made a nice three, though, and it was still a game with Devils Lake leading 19-13 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter is when the Firebirds soared. Payge Shock made a three early in the quarter for Shiloh Christian — which turned out to be the Skyhawks’ only basket of the quarter, other than a pair of scattered free throws. Klein credited the defensive adjustments he made, switching up the team’s press and putting more pressure at the half-court line.
“When you press a lot like that and you do that stuff, you always gotta mix things up to keep the other team off guard,” Klein said, “because they’ll find holes and they’ll find gaps in it.”
Beyond the shooting struggles, the Skyhawks struggled at the free throw line too, making just five of their 12 attempts throughout the game. Brodina scored five more in the second quarter, while Jolie Matinson scored six. It was a well-rounded and dominating effort that saw Devils Lake outscore Shiloh Christian 23-5 in the quarter.
With a win essentially in the bag, Brodina started to see less time. She still scored five in the third quarter, bringing her to an even 20 for the day. She made a trio of three-pointers and consistently found a way to take open shots with little pressure on her.
Still a freshman, Brodina has been an important piece of this Devils Lake team. She carries the namesake of her father Dustin Brodina, the boys’ basketball head coach, and Parker and Beau Brodina, her brothers who also play for the boys’ team.
“I think as a freshman, she’s just playing free,” Klein said. “There hasn’t been a lot of tape on her. There hasn’t been a lot of stuff out on her. So hopefully that continues. But teams are gonna take things away from her, take her strengths away.”
Senior Brinly Gregory came off the bench and scored five in the third quarter, then five more in the fourth. With the rest of the regulars taking a rest, Gregory took the spotlight at the end for Devils Lake.
“That’s going to be huge moving forward, especially if we’re playing against the zone,” Klein said. “That was good to see. We’ve been kind of hot and cold at times. Sometimes we’ll go, or we won’t hit anything, and then we have that. So that was very encouraging to see.”
Shiloh Christian had its best shooting quarter in the fourth with 14 points, including the last seven of the game. Devils Lake wound up winning by 29, a luxurious margin of victory to get this weekend’s shootout started.
The Firebirds’ next opponent is Beulah on Saturday at 5 p.m.
“I’d like to see us shoot like that,” Klein said. “You play back-to-back, maybe it won’t be as fresh, so we’re gonna have to step up again. Be ready to go again at 5:00 tomorrow. Shoot around tomorrow morning; don’t just sit around all day and wait to play.”
