It was a long time coming for this town. It hadn’t experienced a championship in a core sport since 1987. And the Devils Lake girls’ basketball program, which won that most recent title 37 years ago, brought the hardware back to Devils Lake on Saturday.
The Firebirds were brought back into town with a special police escort, and celebrated their achievement at Knights of Columbus last night. It was an evening of joy, laughter and reflection — the realization setting in of how much this meant to the team and the community.
The 2023-24 Devils Lake girls’ basketball team will go down in Lake Region history. For now, they’ll just have to soak it all in the best they can.
Highlights
The Firebirds were led by a 13-0 run in the first quarter on Saturday. South Prairie-Max battled back and chipped away at the lead, bringing it back to a single-digit gap in the fourth quarter. But the lead never shrunk below five, and Devils Lake pulled away with a 68-53 victory.
Freshman Tylie Brodina was the star yet again with 25 points. She won the tournament MVP for her efforts. She and Presley Brown were the two Firebirds named to the all-tournament team. For more on the championship-securing contest, read here.
May-Port-C-G girls’ basketball also took home a title Saturday night in the Division B championship game. The Patriots beat Edgeley/Kulm/Montpelier 55-41 to win their second championship ever, and first since 1975. Reagan Zerface led with 18 points, while Rylee Satrom had 17.
Lake Region State College women’s basketball lost 61-47 to North Dakota State College of Science in its second playoff game. The Royals’ season is over. Tiyahna Trottier and Brooke Kleinig had 15 and 13 points, respectively, while Kelsey Crossan had seven points and seven rebounds. But they were outshot, 43.8% to 31.9%, and outrebounded 32 to 25. It was still a successful season overall for the lady Royals, who went 20-12 and finished in third place in the Mon-Dak Athletic Conference during the regular season.
Other scores
Division A girls’ basketball state tournament
Northern Cass 61, Watford City 58 (seventh-place game)
Bottineau 54, Shiloh Christian 51 (fifth-place game)
Valley City 54, Thompson 58 (third-place game)
Division B girls’ basketball state tournament
Maple River 30, Kenmare/Bowbells 46 (seventh-place game)
Central McLean 62, Our Redeemer’s 36 (fifth-place game)
Bowman County 44, Sargent County 45 (third-place game)
Men’s basketball playoffs
Bismarck State College 57, North Dakota State College of Science 83
Gogebic Community College 107, United Tribes Technical College 151
Dakota County Technical College 79, Dakota College at Bottineau 88
Miles Community College 69, Dawson Community College 91
Women’s basketball playoffs
Dawson Community College 54, Williston State College 79
What to watch
Everyone can finally take a breather on Sunday. There will be no sports played.
However, the chaos will pick back up on Monday — now that the girls’ tournaments are over, it’s all about the boys’.
No. 4 Devils Lake boys’ basketball, which ended up as the tough-luck third seed in the Region 2 tournament, will begin with a game against last-place Carrington on Monday. If the Firebirds win, they’ll play a highly anticipated rematch on Tuesday against No. 3 Four Winds/Minnewaukan, which gets a bye in the first round. The winner will likely face No. 2 Grafton in the region final, while the loser will still have a chance at third place and a state qualifier game.
No. 1 North Star boys’ basketball also continues its postseason run in the Division B, Region 2 tournament that begins Monday. The Bearcats’ first opponent is Warwick. These tournaments will be going on simultaneously — Division A at Mayville State University, and Division B at Devils Lake Sports Center.
