Suri Gourd flung one up from beyond the arc. The final seconds of the first quarter ticked down, and her shot landed just before the buzzer.
It was a challenging season for the Four Winds/Minnewaukan girls’ basketball team. The Indians dealt with numerous injuries, including one to Gourd early on. But, despite missing a few games, Gourd went into last week’s Region 2 tournament only 13 points away from 1,000 for her career — as a freshman.
“I was getting on her — she missed three free throws before that. That could have got her that 13,” said Sean Gourd Sr., Suri’s dad and the FW/M girls’ head coach. “But it was nice to hit that three at the buzzer, and it got her over 1,000. It’s just a special moment.”
With that triple, which gave the Indians a 19-13 lead, Gourd had precisely 1,001 career points. Her dad hugged her as she briefly celebrated with her teammates during the quarter break.
“It’s kind of surreal at first,” Gourd said. “You don’t think you’re gonna get it as a ninth-grader.”
She ended up scoring 32 points in a 62-46 loss to Grafton. The Indians’ season might have ended, but Gourd’s story is far from over.
Growing up with her dad as the head coach, she had a rapidly developing interest in basketball long before she ever put on a varsity jersey.
“When she was younger, she tagged along with all my practices as much as she can,” Gourd Sr. said. “In second and third grade, she was dribbling the ball with two hands. Always been in the gym.”
Gourd joined the third-grade travel team as just a first-grader. And it was her instant love of the game that instilled a natural work ethic that followed, even at a young age.
“She just loves basketball,” Gourd Sr. said. “And she’s definitely a special one to me.”
Around halfway through Gourd’s seventh-grade year, the Indians were short on guards and needed a ball-handler. So, Gourd Sr. had the confidence to plug in his daughter at the varsity level.
And it was an almost seamless transition.
“She just started playing well,” Gourd Sr. said, praising her “confidence and her poise.”
Gourd said it’s helped having her dad by her side, and that he’s motivated her to become the best player possible. Even beyond her dad, she has a large support system of family members who live on the Spirit Lake Reservation and come to as many games as possible. They were all prepared for Gourd’s 1,000-point milestone in Mayville, crafting hand-made signs with cutouts of her face on them.
“Just always looking up to him,” Gourd said of her dad, “and my family supporting me.”
Gourd had all but assured a starting spot by the time her eighth-grade year rolled around. She averaged over 17 points per game during the first year of FW/M competing in Class A, while she was still in middle school. She earned an all-region selection in the process.
She keeps her skills sharp with AAU basketball in the summer. She also stays active in the fall on the volleyball team, with whom she was also an all-region player.
“She’s just so competitive,” Gourd Sr. said. “She puts in the work. She hits the weights in the offseason. She gets some shots that she works on; her skill-work. And she’s doing that all the time. Pretty proud of her. She deserves all the accolades that she’s got coming in the future.”
Firmly established as the Indians’ captain and leading scorer, she averaged over 20 points per year this season as a freshman. Even for the few games she was hurt, she limped out on crutches with the rest of the team and cheered loudly from the bench.
Gourd takes nothing for granted. She doesn’t get handed anything for free by nature of being the head coach’s daughter. It’s all earned through her performance.
“I try to be a leader out there,” she said. “Try not to have other girls see me as him favoring me.”
And it’s this determination that’s led her to reach a milestone most high school players never attain. For the ones who do, it usually comes during their senior year.
But Gourd still has one more year as, technically, an underclassman. She has three more years left at the high school level to go on and reach even greater heights.
“Her work ethic definitely stands out. And that’s a testament to her,” Gourd Sr. said. “There are times where she’d rather not go, but we talk about how you’ve gotta put in the extra. You’ve gotta be that 1% out there that does more than what’s necessary. Her work ethic, her competitiveness, and she just wants to win. And she’s got big plans for the future.”
Multiple colleges have already reached out to Gourd to start the recruiting process. As for what she wants to accomplish while she’s still playing for the Indians?
“I think the ultimate goal is to get to state,” Gourd said. “Our program for girls have never gone to state, and so that’s a big goal for me.”
The selflessness Gourd shows is another major aspect of her character that stands out to her dad.
“She wants to lead the first team to make it to the state tournament. And that’s a goal she has in mind. It’s a team goal, which is awesome,” Gourd Sr. said. “She’s not talking about being all-state and all that. Her goal is for our team to make a state tournament. That’s just how she is. She’s a team-first player.”
FW/M will be losing senior Ava Gourd — Gourd’s cousin — to graduation this year. A. Gourd was one of the key players who went down with a midseason injury. But the rest of the Indians’ core will be sticking around for at least another year.
Cailee Hanson, the team’s second-most prolific scorer, will be a senior next season. As will Kendra Spotted Wolf and Dru Longie. The Indians also had three additional freshmen and three eighth-graders on their varsity roster this season.
Gourd Sr. said he’s optimistic about the future of this team with all the young players he still has. He’ll have three more chances to achieve those state tournament dreams with his daughter still in high school — three more years for Gourd to continue improving and for her teammates to develop around her.
As for beyond high school, Gourd’s goal is simple.
“I’d like to go to college to play Division I basketball,” she said.
For now, she has the offseason to continue building. To stay sharp in anticipation for next year.
And to maybe add a few more to those 1,019 points.
