Valentine’s Day has passed, and basketball tournament time has come.
The No. 4 Devils Lake girls’ team begins its quest to reach the state tournament this week in the Region 2 tournament. The Firebirds are the No. 2 seed in the tournament, behind only Thompson, which is the No. 1 team in Division A and went 20-0 during the regular season.
They’ll face the winner of the No. 3 and 6 seeds, Carrington and Hillsboro/Central Valley, at approximately 7 p.m. Tuesday at Mayville State University. If they win that game, they’ll play on Thursday against the winner of Thompson vs. either Four Winds/Minnewaukan or Grafton.
Here are three keys to success for Devils Lake in the most critical games of the season.
They’ll need to utilize their strong defensive skills
Head coach Justin Klein hasn’t been shy about admitting that his team is stronger defensively than it is offensively. So the Firebirds will need to play into their strength.
Devils Lake allowed 50 or fewer points in 15 of its 21 games, and 60 or fewer points in 18. If the team wants to ignite a postseason run, it’s going to need to run teams into the ground and pressure them until they tire, like they did to Grafton on Thursday.
And the Firebirds have proven they can play well defensively against good teams. Take No. 1 Thompson, for example. They held the Tommies, a team that’s scored 176 points in their last two games, to 57 and 50 points the two times they played them. While Devils Lake still lost both matchups, they held the gap to a relatively close 11 in their first matchup on Dec. 29.
While it’ll be tough to overcome an undefeated Thompson team — which Devils Lake will very likely play in the second round — the unpredictability of playoff competition could work in its favor. Just look at Thursday’s game, when a 6-14 Grafton team led the Firebirds during the fourth quarter. And in Devils Lake’s first matchup with Thompson, it only trailed by six points in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
“That’s why they play the games,” Klein said. “It’s tournament time, and anything can happen.”
They’ll need the best version of Tylie Brodina
While Devils Lake is defense-heavy, one undeniable X-factor on its offense is Brodina.
The freshman had a streaky but impressive first season for Devils Lake. Following the footsteps of her brothers, who are both starters on the varsity team under their dad, head coach Dustin Brodina, she became one of the most dynamic players on the girls’ squad.
The team often lived and died on Brodina’s performance. And it’ll be no different in the postseason, when every basket matters and a single point could be the difference of going to Minot or going home. She had stretches where she carried the team and was often its leading scorer. Then there were games like the one on Jan. 23 against Carrington, where she fouled out and didn’t score a single point.
Waves of success are to be expected from a young player. The flashes of brilliance Brodina showed — such as last week, when she kicked off the game with a pair of three-pointers — suggest she’ll be a bonafide star by her sophomore or junior year, if she keeps this up.
But she’s already a great player as is, and Devils Lake is going to need her contributions if it wants to make a deep run in the postseason. It has other reliable shooters, most notably junior Cabryn Fritel, who’s possibly the team’s most consistent player, but Brodina could very well be the difference.
It’s not over if they lose to Thompson
The reality is that the odds are stacked against Devils Lake in its likely matchup against Thompson on Thursday. The Firebirds could play their best defense, shoot at their best, and still lose to a team that won all 20 of its games in the regular season.
But it’s not over if they lose to Thompson. A loss would send them to a state qualifier round on Saturday. As the second-place team from Region 2, they would play the third-place team from Region 3. If they win that game, then they go to the state tournament.
The third-place team from Region 2, meanwhile, will be decided by the two semifinal losers facing off on Thursday before the Region 2 final. So if Devils Lake were to get upset by Carrington, say, the season wouldn’t be over in that case either — Devils Lake would have to beat the team that’s likely going to lose to Thompson in order to advance to the state qualifiers. In this scenario, the Firebirds would face the second-place team from Region 1.
So the point is, Devils Lake has some leeway. That’s why it’s important for this team to keep fighting and play its best basketball, because its chances of making it to the state tournament are very strong.
Joseph “Mojo” Hill is a reporter covering Lake Region sports for the Devils Lake Journal. Contact him on Twitter @mojohill22 or at jhill@devilslakejournal.com for any tips, questions or story ideas.
