Torri Fee (32) / Photo by Noah Clooten

Torri Fee (32) / Photo by Noah Clooten

DEVILS LAKE — A barrage of four three-pointers by Torri Fee in the fourth quarter wasn’t quite enough.

Fresh off seeing its ranking drop by a spot, No. 3 Devils Lake girls’ basketball (13-3, 5-1) lost a tight one at home to No. 4 Valley City (15-2, 8-1) on Monday. The Firebirds fell 64-56.

Presley Brown’s 16 points kept them in it, as did Fee’s 12 in the fourth quarter that gave her 16 overall. Tylie Brodina also hit a couple of big threes in the second half and finished with nine points. But Devils Lake didn’t quite gel offensively the way that it has so often in the past.

Valley City went just 6-of-15 from the free throw line in the second half. But the Hi-Liners grabbed their own rebounds to protect their lead. Katie Burchill led them with 18 points.

“For one, I’d like to give us a chance at the end there, when we don’t box out on those free throws,” Firebirds head coach Justin Klein said. “We had a couple hot shooters, so it would have been nice to get a rebound… When we don’t box out, I think that’s the most frustrating thing I take off of it.”

Cabryn Fritel was fourth on the team in points with six, while Anna Shock had four and Claire Heilman had three. Brown and Heilman both started over Jolie Martinson.

“I don’t think I’ve settled on it; it just, right now, gives us the best pressing and trapping defense,” Klein said. “Also, I think it gives us our higher-percentage shooters for right now. And then I like to use Claire and Jolie back and forth, subbing-wise… Especially after last week, I thought we were gonna have to mix something up.”

Devils Lake maintained a one-point lead at the end of the first quarter despite its top scorer, Brodina, going 0-of-3 from three-point range.

Brodina scored four seconds into the game. But that was her only field goal in a three-point quarter.

“They’re arm-barring her; they’re taking her away,” Klein said. “Someone’s in her face. Size is really a struggle for her right now. Size and strength, and when they body her up. And we’re not doing a very good job screening for her either. But yeah, she’s struggling right now.”

Both teams came out playing an urgent and fast-paced game. Brown got down the court a few times and made six of the Firebirds’ first 10 points.

Devils Lake led 6-2, but a steal led to Valley City rapidly tying it back up.

Down 10-8, the Firebirds forced back-to-back stops. Fritel grabbed a steal and handed it off to Brown, who tied it at 10 apiece. Fee gave Devils Lake a brief lead, but the teams traded baskets to reach a 14-all tie.

Brodina went 1-of-2 from the free throw line, squeaking the Firebirds ahead 15-14. Brodina sprinted down the court and passed it to Shock, who came off the bench and gave Devils Lake some needed breathing room.

Valley City’s Greta Goven squeezed in her third basket of the quarter before the buzzer. It was a narrow 17-16 lead at the end of the period for Devils Lake. Brown had a team-leading eight points.

“Yeah, good effort,” Klein said of Brown. “She’s important in our pressing and our trap. She shoots the gaps real well. She’s doing a much better job, I think.”

As the first half wore on, the Firebirds’ offense became more stagnant. Mia Elsperger scored the team’s first points over two minutes into the second quarter. It followed Valley City’s Kadie Kocka bouncing in back-to-back layups to put the Hi-Liners up 20-17.

Brown found a wide route to the rim to keep Devils Lake within one. She had double figures already to lead the Firebirds. But Kinlee Sufficool hit a triple for the Hi-Liners. Valley City had a 7-2 mini-run to grow its lead to six.

At the half, Devils Lake trailed 32-26. It had work to do, as it so often has over the last few weeks.

For more than half of the third quarter, Devils Lake’s only points of the second half were from a pair of baskets by Fritel. Valley City led by as many as seven.

But Brown knocked down a couple free throws, and Brodina finally connected on a three. Devils Lake was, all of a sudden, down just 37-35.

Brown was sent to the line three more times in the quarter. She went 1-of-2 twice, then missed her last two. She was 4-of-8 from the line overall in the quarter.

Shock scored with seconds left in the quarter, cutting the deficit to 42-39. It was just the fourth basket of the quarter for Devils Lake, aside from Brown’s free throws.

Valley City kept its momentum alive early in the fourth quarter, briefly running its lead up to double digits.

Fee hit her first two threes of the quarter, keeping Devils Lake in the game by the skin of its teeth. The Firebirds took a timeout with 4:08 to go, down 54-47.

Fee made another three to get Devils Lake to 50. Her fourth triple made it 56-53, and Valley City missed its own open three look.

“That’s what we needed. We finally got a shot to fall,” Klein said. “Finally we got something to fall, but it was a little too late.”

Burchill had an and-one, though, to bring the Hi-Liners’ lead back to six. Brodina’s second three of the game made it a three-point game again with two minutes on the clock.

But Devils Lake had to resort to fouling, and it couldn’t grab any rebounds even with Valley City’s mediocre free throw shooting. Burchill went 3-of-8 from the line in the second half. Devils Lake never scored again after Brodina’s triple and took an eight-point loss.

It was Devils Lake’s third loss in its last nine games after starting the season 7-0. It was a non-region game for the Firebirds, but still a matchup with one of the top teams in Class A. Devils Lake previously beat Valley City 66-64 on Jan. 3.

“We’ve got three practices before we go to Hillsboro [on Friday], which is a region game,” Klein said. “On Thursday night, Thompson and Carrington are playing, so we’ll see who wins there. It’ll determine kind of where we’re at, if we can win out and win the region, or if we have a tiebreaker with points.”