Tylie Brodina (Photo by Noah Clooten)
DEVILS LAKE — The Firebirds grabbed a late lead but couldn’t quite take down No. 2 in a thriller Tuesday.
Devils Lake girls’ basketball dove right into the fire, playing defending state champion Valley City to open the season. It was a matchup between each of the last two years’ Class A state champions.
The Firebirds, ranked No. 4 in the preseason NDAPSSA Class A poll, fell 69-65 to No. 2 Valley City at the Devils Lake Sports Center. It’s worth noting that No. 1 South Prairie-Max lost to unranked Carrington on Monday, making Valley City a logical pick to become the new No. 1 next week.
But the Firebirds hung around with the top dog. Their halftime lead got away from them in the third quarter, which ultimately doomed Devils Lake despite hitting a few big shots in the fourth quarter.
Firebirds head coach Justin Klein said it was a good opportunity to “find out where we’re at.”
Each team had a busy presence at the free throw line, but neither team shot particularly well in that department. Valley City was 17-for-33 from the stripe, while Devils Lake was 11-for-21.
With seven players listed at 5-foot-10 or taller, Valley City’s size proved daunting. It got Devils Lake into foul trouble, which was a problem with a less experienced bench than last year.
“We’re undersized, obviously, against a team like this, so we’ve got to take a few more chances,” Klein said. “Which sometimes leads to fouls. And wearing teams down — also wearing us down. So we need those breaks, and we need the bench to step up and give us a break at times.”
A fast start — but not in the way they expected
Each team comes into this season with one of the top established players in the state: Tylie Brodina for the Firebirds and Katie Burchill for the Hi-Liners. The pair were held to one combined point in the first quarter.
It was junior Ava Beck who led Devils Lake’s early scoring. She made an early three and scored 10 points in the first half.
Along with a combined nine from Presley Brown and Mia Elsperger, and four off the bench from Dottie Goss and Jenae Martinson, Devils Lake was rolling. The Firebirds came out playing fast-paced and forcing turnovers. They led 20-13 at the end of the first quarter.
And that was despite zero points from Brodina.
Promptly, the first two buckets of the second quarter came from Burchill and Brodina, respectively. The six-foot Burchill had a put-back, and Brodina hit a three from the corner.
Brodina scored the first 11 Devils Lake points of the second quarter. She hit three triples in the quarter, exploding for 14 points.
Despite 10 points in the second quarter from Valley City’s Maddy Frieze, Devils Lake held strong with a 39-31 lead at halftime. The Firebirds held Burchill, who scored more than 20 points per game last year, to just four points and one field goal in the first half.
Defending champs claw back
Things slowly slipped away from Devils Lake in the second half.
Frieze hit two triples in the third quarter to give her four in the game, with 18 points overall. Her final triple boosted Valley City ahead, 43-42, and fueled a 9-0 run to give the Hi-Liners a 47-42 lead. Burchill also used her height for a gutsy put-back on a three-ball that Frieze missed.
Devils Lake already had two players with at least three fouls by halftime. Foul trouble started to linger at Valley City, too, as Frieze and Dacota Potratz each committed their fourth foul in the third quarter.
Martinson hit a three to get Devils Lake within one point. It was the first made field goal of the quarter for the Firebirds. Valley City’s Kailee Nielson responded with her own three to make it 50-46 Hi-Liners.
Goss, who was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line, made two free throws and a bucket to tie it up at 50-50.
Beck ran in a layup right before time expired in the third quarter. It was just the third field goal of the quarter for the Firebirds, who squeaked ahead 54-52 heading into the fourth.
A tense fourth quarter
Valley City muscled its way to the finish line largely via free throws. Devils Lake widened its lead to as many as five, after buckets from Brodina and Goss. But Hofstad, Elsperger, Brown and Beck — in that order — all fouled out as the teams fought through the final minutes.
“I thought we gave ourselves a chance, and that’s what we need to do,” Klein said. “After losing six seniors that played quite a bit, it was nice to see some of these other girls get a chance. And I think we can learn from some of the mistakes we made.”
Valley City put Potratz back in, and she scored six points in the fourth quarter, including a 4-for-6 performance from the line. Neither she nor Frieze ever fouled out, despite getting to four fouls. It was tied, 60-60, with exactly two minutes on the clock.
Brodina hit a massive go-ahead three — one that looked like it might be a heroic game winner. Brodina has so often thrived under pressure in her high school career, going back two years ago to when she won state tournament MVP as a freshman.
The Hi-Liners almost bailed Devils Lake out. Burchill missed two free throws with a chance to tie it. She went just 4-for-8 from the stripe in the fourth quarter and 8-for-14 overall.
But Potratz hit her own go-ahead triple for Valley City. The Hi-Liners never looked back, with a 6-0 run to seal the deal.
Brown had Devils Lake’s last bucket before committing her last two fouls. On one of Devils Lake’s last chances, down 67-65 with 18.8 seconds left, Burchill intercepted an inbound pass — which effectively put the game out of reach.
Kadie Kocka, after previously missing a pair of free throws, made two successful ones to make it a two-possession game.
Burchill ended up second on Valley City in points with 16. Despite a slow scoring first half and inconsistencies at the free throw line, she rebounded well and made a few buckets in the second half.
Klein had mixed thoughts on how Devils Lake handled players like Burchill.
“In the half-court set, it was fine — it was the rebounding. That’s where we gave up a lot of Burchill’s,” Klein said. “A lot of those were put-backs. We have to do a better job of rebounding all-around, everybody.”
Final numbers
Brodina had an adventurous game to get her junior season started. She didn’t make any field goals in the first or third quarter, but she had an enormous second quarter and a couple of key shots in the fourth. She led Devils Lake with 21 points overall. Beck was second with 13. Starters Elspeger and Brown each had eight.
Goss had a solid eight-point performance off the bench, while Hofstad’s time was limited after reaching four fouls early. Both have very little varsity experience.
“They’re only sophomores, so putting them in positions like this was kind of a wake-up call,” Klein said. “Especially in a big game like this. But [Goss] did a nice job.”
Up next, Devils Lake hosts Turtle Mountain on Monday at 7 p.m.
