Tylie Brodina (Photos by Noah Clooten)
DEVILS LAKE — One half of the historic Devils Lake champion basketball teams returned to town Thursday night.
The Firebird girls (2-0) kicked off a highly anticipated winter season, taking down Bottineau (1-2) 59-29 at the Devils Lake Sports Center. It was their second win of the season and first in front of the home crowd.
“It was nice to play at home,” Firebirds head coach Justin Klein said. “I think it was nice to get some revenge on them after they knocked us off early last year; kind of a wake-up call for us last year. I thought we came out with some fire and energy, and just the way we want to play.”
Sophomore Tylie Brodina, who scored 25 points in the Class A championship game in March, led Devils Lake with 22 on Thursday. Eleven of those points came in the first quarter, propelling a 23-0 run that put the game away early.
“It felt really good just playing with my teammates,” Brodina said. “Getting back on our home court, it felt really nice.”
Devils Lake played tight to start. The Firebirds struggled to find open looks and were a step behind the Stars, who took a 2-0 lead 88 seconds into the game. Brodina had the best look yet but missed a three-pointer, then missed a potential game-tying layup.
“They came out in a zone, 1-3-1, so that threw us off a little bit,” Klein said. “I thought our movement with the ball wasn’t very good. And they’ve got some size. I was really impressed with our defense. Right away, we did a good job. But offensively, we’ve gotta get better early, and we’ve gotta try to finish a little bit more at the rim.”
Torri Fee finally got Devils Lake on the board with a basket at 5:40. Bottineau took a 3-2 lead on a free throw with more than three minutes already gone on the clock.
But with around three minutes left in the first quarter, the Firebirds started to get going. Junior Presley Brown, the lone starter who didn’t start on last year’s team (but was named an all-state tournament selection), made 1-of-2 free throws and scored a layup on an open drive.
Brodina then had six straight points for Devils Lake. Cabryn Fritel made a field goal, and Brodina connected on a three-pointer. It spiraled into a 23-0 stretch, including 19 straight to end the first quarter.
“Just our passing,” Brodina said of what improved. “Looking at the wide-open looks. I think once we figured that out, we were fine.”
Bottineau ended the streak at exactly 5:00 in the second quarter after missing a pair of free throws 24 seconds earlier. Brodina made two more buckets in the quarter to finish with 15 in the first half, while Anna Shock added four second-quarter points off the bench.
“I thought it was alright,” Brodina said of her offensive performance. “I think I need to clean up a few things, but that’ll come to me.”
The lead at halftime was 36-9. It extended to 44-9 in the third quarter, taking Bottineau nearly half the quarter to get back on the board. Brodina made her second three of the game, scoring seven points in the third quarter before the starters were taken out.
“When she gets going, and she can attack the rim; she’s done a really nice job attacking the rim and getting to the hoop,” Klein said. “So that was fun to see.”
Mia Elsperger scored seven points off the bench in the second half. Kendra Eckes and Claire Heilman also came off the bench to score buckets. Nine players scored for Devils Lake overall.
“There’s gonna be times where they’re gonna shut [Brodina] down, or she’s gonna have an off-night,” Klein said. “So that’s where we’ve gotta have everybody score.”
Brown added six in the third quarter, giving her nine in the game. She had the second-most on the team.
“I think she did a nice job,” Klein said. “She’s just gotta know her limitations. Sometimes she gets going a little bit too much and reaches a little bit too much. But she did a good job. It doesn’t really matter who we’re gonna start; I probably have six or eight girls that I could rotate in in different spots. Tonight we went a little bigger because of [Bottineau’s] size.”
With all of Devils Lake’s starters resting, Bottineau finished the game on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to an even 30. It was still a comfortable victory to get this season started on a right note for the Firebirds.
“I think we’re right where we want to be,” Klein said. “Can’t win a championship in December, but I like where we’re at right now.”
The win came ahead of a key region matchup with Carrington on Monday, Dec. 16, followed by a road matchup with Rugby the very next day.
“There’ll be a test to kind of see how we do with a home game on a back-to-back, and then a road game,” Klein said. “But I like where we’re at right now, and I think we’ve got some more things to work on in practice though.”
