Two days ago, the Firebirds lost a heartbreaker.
No. 4 Devils Lake girls’ basketball put up the fight of its life against undefeated No. 1 Thompson, but the Firebirds fell on a buzzer-beating layup that dashed their hopes of upsetting the Tommies and winning the Region 2 tournament.
Yet their season wasn’t over. And on Saturday, they put Thursday’s loss behind them and showed that they’re still one of the best teams in the state.
After all, they’re going to the state tournament.
“We had a really good practice on Friday,” junior Torri Fee said. “And we just tried to prep and forget what we lost. We just had to come back and play as hard as we could so we could make it to state.”
Devils Lake (18-6, 7-2) officially secured a spot in Minot, beating Kindred (17-7, 10-3) 60-48 at Mayville State University. Fee led with 12 points, while Tylie Brodina had 11. It was a game that the Firebirds never dominated, necessarily, but they played consistently and steadily better than the Vikings, and eventually found themselves with a comfortable lead at the end.
Devils Lake head coach Justin Klein was asked at what point in the game he felt comfortable they would pull this one out. He said, with a cheeky smile, “When the buzzer went off.” Klein, more than anyone, wasn’t going to let the disappointment of Thursday’s game intrude on Saturday’s success.
“If you can’t get up for this, then you don’t deserve to play high school sports. I guess that’s how I look at it,” Klein said. “But it stings. It still stings. Knowing that we had that and played our butts off and it came down to the end — but it is what it is. We’re there, and that’s all that matters.”
Fee got the scoring started right away with a three-pointer. Kindred’s Peyton Gette made two nice drives down the court to put the Vikings up 4-3, but Brodina swished a three to jolt Devils Lake back ahead 6-4 in the early going.
Kindred failed to take advantage of a turnover, and missed both free throws with a chance to tie it after a Brodina foul. Cabryn Fritel managed to get the ball from under the rim to Brodina, who made her second three of the game. Fritel missed a layup, but Presley Brown got the rebound and put it back in, extending Devils Lake’s lead to 13-6.
The Vikings were a little sloppy at the rim, but they guarded and blocked the Firebirds well to stay in the game. Lexi Ogren made a three for them to cut the gap to 13-11.
But Fee made another layup, and Kindred quickly turned it over. Fritel made a shot, and Devils Lake led 17-12 at the end of the first quarter.
Both teams struggled with turnovers in the second quarter, but the guarding stayed tough on both sides. Kindred broke through with a three by Siera Nipstad, cutting the lead to 20-17 in what had, up until that point, been a low-scoring quarter.
Nipstad made another three shortly thereafter, squeezing the gap to 22-20. But Fritel intercepted a pass, and Ava Beck found a way to sneak it in the basket. The pace of scoring increased down the stretch of the first half, and Devils Lake led 32-23 at halftime.
“The goal today was to keep the tempo and run and push and transition, and get after it and wear them down,” Klein said.
Devils Lake’s first six points of the second half came from Brown. The next seven were scored by Claire Heilman — four via the free throw after swishing a three-pointer. It was a scrappy 9-0 run that boosted the Firebirds’ lead to 45-27.
“She’s a good player,” Fee said of Heilman. “She hit that three, and we were all just very comfortable.”
A three by Kindred’s Liza Trenbeath ended the run, but Brown made another shot to finish the third quarter on a strong note. Despite no points from Brodina, Fee or Fritel in that quarter, the Firebirds found themselves up by 17 points with a quarter to play.
Eight minutes away from the state tournament.
“Heilman had some good minutes for us today and took a good shot there, and that was huge,” Klein said. “We needed that because we can’t always rely on Tylie.”
Kindred rattled off a run of free throws in the fourth quarter. It scored eight straight points, six from the line. The lead was still in double digits at 49-38, but the Firebirds have learned recently that no game is over until it’s over.
Hence Klein’s skepticism on counting this game won just yet.
But Brodina returned to the floor with a flash, swishing her third three-ball of the game. The Vikings responded with three straight baskets, but they had to start fouling with the clock ticking down, and Devils Lake had no issue holding onto its lead. It was a 12-point win in the end to send the Firebirds to Minot.
Devils Lake, which was ranked as the No. 4 team in Division A heading into the Region 2 tournament, will be one of eight schools competing for top honors at the Minot State Dome later this week. It’s been a special season, and regardless of the results, it’ll culminate in the tournament that every young player dreams of going to.
“It’s our chemistry,” Fee said of what makes this group so good. “We all play together so well. None of us are ball hogs… We play really good defense, and the bench helps us out on defense, too.”
The Firebirds go into the state tournament as the No. 3 out of eight seeds. Their first opponent will be Northern Cass, the No. 6 seed, at 2:45 p.m. on Thursday. If they win, they’ll play on Friday against the winner of Bottineau vs. Valley City — the No. 2 and 7 seeds, respectively.
If they make it to the final, they could very well match up against Thompson again.
And perhaps this time, in this hypothetical scenario, they’ll get their revenge.
