Photos by Noah Clooten
FARGO — After a career where she amassed nearly 1,300 digs, Torri Fee was all set to play volleyball for Lake Region State College.
But when her last high school basketball season came to an end, she realized she missed it.
Colden Hutton, the head women’s basketball coach at LRSC, reached out to Fee to ask if she’d be interested in playing some collegiate hoops. The talks led to Fee adding basketball as a second sport at the next level.
Fee took the court this past weekend with the 2025 Lions A/B All-Stars.
“Playing this [All-Star series] really helped my decision in saying, ‘I actually really want to play,’” Fee said.
As a junior, Fee was one of the starting five on Devils Lake’s state championship basketball team. Despite all the team success in basketball, her best sport individually was arguably volleyball, where she was extremely reliable as the Firebirds’ libero.
She committed to Steve Waddell’s LRSC volleyball team before her senior basketball season even started up.
Then in the winter, she was, once again, a steady presence on the court. Devils Lake fell in the state semifinals this year, but Fee was one of three Firebirds to make the All-Region 2 Team. Her success led her to be named Devils Lake’s lone representative on the girls’ Lions All-Star roster.
For five days, Fee joined forces with some of the best basketball players from around the state, which culminated in a pair of games.
“It was so fun and so memorable. Just being a part of the All-Stars is an accomplishment,” Fee said. “A big, huge thank you to everyone that’s helped out. It’s a really good experience.”
Some of Fee’s teammates included Carrington’s Edyn Hoornaert and Bottineau’s Kyra Beckman, familiar foes from Devils Lake’s battles over the last couple years.
“It was fun because we always didn’t want to play against each other,” Fee said with a smile, “but we got to play with each other, so it made it more fun.”
Fee helped the A/B team avenge last year’s losses to the AA squad. She scored nine second-half points in a 101-73 victory on Monday in Bismarck, overcoming a big performance from South Dakota State-committed Brooklyn Felchle.
The teams played a tighter contest in Fargo on Tuesday. The A/B team narrowly lost 100-96, so they settled for a series split.
“We had really good chemistry, and we all shared the ball really well,” Fee said. “It sucks that we didn’t win tonight, but you don’t always win every game.”
Fee added that the biggest thing to take out of this experience was the fun she had.
“Just treat it like a normal game,” she said. “You want to go get at the opponent, and you’re gonna try your hardest and do your best.”
For Fee, this was just the next step between high school and college ball. She’ll be staying local and joining a talented LRSC team that’s already recruited a bigger roster than last year’s. Former Devils Lake player Tylee Black will be joining the Royals this fall as well.
Another one of Fee’s future teammates was on the floor with her this week — Bismarck Century’s Zoie Austin, who led the AA team with 23 points on Tuesday.
The next level of competition in two different sports now awaits Fee.
“Be better at the next level,” she said of what she hopes to accomplish. “Play hard and get better.”
