Presley Brown (Photo by Noah Clooten)
MAYVILLE — Well, it’s not always easy in the postseason.
Exactly one week ago, No. 3 Devils Lake girls’ basketball beat Grafton by 33 points.
“It’s tournament time,” Firebirds head coach Justin Klein said. “You can’t take anybody lightly.”
At halftime on Tuesday, in the defending-champion Firebirds’ first game of the postseason, they were tied with the Spoilers, 26-26. Grafton even took a brief lead early in the third quarter.
“Bigger, stronger teams, we’ve struggled with at times,” Klein said. “I don’t think I was really disappointed with our defense, but it was more offensively… We didn’t get into a flow very well.”
But, behind 31 combined points between Claire Heilman and Presley Brown, Devils Lake handled business in the second half. Heilman had 16, including 10 in the third quarter. Brown scored 15.
“We had a big talk at halftime that we just need to come out and play our type of basketball and go for all the loose balls,” Brown said. “And we did.”
The Spoilers (9-14) ran out of gas in the fourth quarter as Devils Lake (19-3) wound up taking a 67-46 victory at Mayville State University. It moved the Firebirds to Thursday’s Region 2 final, which will be against the winner of Tuesday night’s matchup between Carrington and No. 5 Thompson.
“We need to start better,” Klein said. “I think just focusing. Be ready to play. I mean, first game here and we showed up and we thought, ‘Oh, it’s Grafton. We beat ‘em last week by 30.’ A level of play and intensity I think will be there from our kids from the start.”
Both teams were sloppy out of the initial tip-off, with four turnovers before any points were scored.
Torri Fee shot a three to get Devils Lake on the board. Grafton squeaked ahead with six points from Savannah Blackcloud, but the Firebirds scored eight straight to go up 13-6. Tylie Brodina made her first points of the evening with a three.
The Spoilers shot back with a pesky attack. Paityn Ziegelmann got to the rim twice, and Annelise Presteng sprinted in with a running layup. Devils Lake got points from six different players in the quarter, but Grafton was still within a 17-14 margin at the end of the first quarter.
Brodina found the basket to help extend Devils Lake’s lead to seven early in the second quarter. She also came up with a block. It took over 2:30 for Grafton to score in the quarter.
But the Spoilers got five straight to trim the Devils Lake lead to 24-21. Brodina fouled Kate LeClerc in three-point range, and LeClerc made 2-of-3 free throws.
Brown went to the line three times in the second quarter, but she only made 2-of-6 free throws in the quarter and 3-of-8 in the first half. With the Firebirds clinging to a 25-23 lead, Brown’s pass was intercepted after multiple offensive rebounds.
Brown committed her third foul with 37.8 seconds left in the first half. LeClerc swished a three at the buzzer, tying it at 26-26 going into halftime. LeClerc had the final 10 Grafton points of the half after not scoring in the first quarter.
“I think it got us more into the game,” Brown said. “Before Coach came in [to the locker room], us girls talked about how we needed to step up and kind of just do our thing.”
The Spoilers turned the ball over 18 times in the first half. But Devils Lake’s offense was limited outside of seven points from each of Brodina and Brown. Each team made eight field goals in the first half, with Devils Lake’s coming in 10 more attempts.
“It was a wake-up call for everybody,” Klein said, “just to see that if you come out and spot teams 10 points, or eight points, whatever — you might be down at half. Or you might have to really work hard.”
Blackcloud struck first to put Grafton ahead in the second half. But Devils Lake played a tighter, more aggressive and urgent style of play in the third quarter. Back-to-back baskets from Heilman gave the Firebirds a 30-28 lead.
Another basket by Blackcloud and a free throw by Molly Bjorneby put the Spoilers up by one — but that was the last lead they’d have in this game.
Brown found the lane to put Devils Lake up 32-31. Heilman got to the rim two more times. It was, all of a sudden, a 12-0 run for the Firebirds to give them a double-digit lead. Heilman had eight of Devils Lake’s first 10 points in the half. She and Brown combined for 17 in the third quarter.
“Really important,” Klein said of what Heilman and Brown provided in the third quarter. “We also needed their size. They’re two of our stronger kids, and I thought they did a nice job taking and attacking to the rim… Claire and Presley really stepped up big.”
Brown, a junior, is no stranger to the postseason. She was an all-state tournament player last year despite coming off the bench. This year, she’s had an increased role and is second on the team in points per game.
“I kind of just try to keep the team up,” Brown said. “And then see what happens from there and just try to be positive.”
Devils Lake maintained a 53-42 advantage at the end of the third quarter. The team’s typical leading scorer, Brodina, only had two points in the second half to finish with nine overall.
But Jolie Martinson, who was part of Devils Lake’s starting five last year, contributed off the bench with nine points in the second half and 11 overall. She complemented Heilman and Brown nicely so they didn’t have to do all the grunt work.
“She’s struggled a little bit from the outside, and we put her in the middle there,” Klein said of Martinson. “And she’s got a nice shot. She took the ball to the hole and did a nice job. Got a couple good rebounds for us, too. Jolie did a good job defending two in the post. That’s a tough team to match up with us because we don’t have a lot of post players.”
Grafton made two baskets early in the fourth quarter but had very little juice left for the majority of the period. The Firebirds ended up running their lead into the 20s — the territory they likely expected to be in, though perhaps not in the way they expected.
Mia Elsperger also chipped in with five points off the bench in the fourth quarter, and seven overall.
So, Devils Lake avoided a stunner. But it might not have as much wiggle room in the region championship on Thursday.
“Honestly, just come out and play a full game of basketball,” Brown said. “Because we usually play half of a game. And so just come out and play right away.”
