Suri Gourd dribbles the ball down the court in the Indians’ region opener on Dec. 15 at Four Winds High School. (Photo by Mojo Hill)
FORT TOTTEN — Suri Gourd left Monday’s game with about four minutes on the clock. As the Indians stretched their lead to 32, head coach Sean Gourd Sr. removed his starters.
Gourd was two points away from an even 50.
That wasn’t the team’s score — it was her personal total.
“My dad didn’t let me go in,” Gourd said with a laugh. “It was funny.”
As Gourd receded to the bench, Gourd Sr. recalled her saying, “Dad, give me one or two more points!”
And then Gourd Sr. responded, “I can’t do that.”
He continued: “If I would have known that [she was at 48 points], I might have left her in there. But we were up 30 by then already. And it’s like, ‘No, I can’t.’”
Gourd, who came in averaging 26 points through four games, went on a heater Monday evening at Four Winds High School. The sophomore star hit nine triples as she scored a career-high 48 points.
Four Winds/Minnewaukan (4-1, 2-0) got region play started with an 85-56 steamrolling of Grafton (2-2, 1-3). The game counted for two points in the Region 2 standings.
The Indians won four games all of last season. They already have four in their first five contests of 2025-26.
The Spoilers eliminated FW/M in the region tournament in February. The Indians lost all three of their matchups with Grafton last season.
They completely turned that narrative around on Monday.
“We just had that fight,” Gourd said. “We wanted to get back on them.”
Gourd’s first points didn’t come until more than three minutes into the game. But once she got going, FW/M went on an 11-0 run to take an early 13-5 lead.
Grafton’s Emma LeClerc hit two triples to bring it to a 14-14 tie at the end of the first quarter.
Gourd scored 14 points in the second quarter, with her first two triples of the night. Cailee Hanson and Dru Longie each added seven points to support her. FW/M led by as many as 12 in the quarter but settled for a 42-37 lead at halftime.
Grafton’s Elle Schumacher got going with nine points in the quarter.
“They did kind of break us down a few times,” Gourd Sr. said. “They got behind us on our press a little bit. And they got some open looks.”
The Indians adjusted their lineup in the second half, starting junior Mercie Morgan to get some size in the game. They went on an early 12-0 run and outscored Grafton 30-8 in the third quarter.
“That definitely helped, I think,” Gourd Sr. said of the lineup change. “We’re getting better as far as defensively, too. Our discipline’s coming around. We’re not doing so many mistakes mentally. But it’s getting a lot better.”
By the second half, Gourd had it dialed in. Seemingly every chance she got, she would fire a three from deep. It got to the point where she didn’t even bother dribbling it around or looking for an opening — she would just jump and shoot it over the guard in front of her.
“I hit two right away off the bat,” Gourd said. “And then there was one play that I think my dad told me to pass it, and I told him, ‘I’m hot.’ And he said, ‘Okay, just keep shooting.’ So I had the confidence to keep shooting.”
Gourd said her goal is to put up 500 shots every single day. Before Monday’s game, she practiced with her little brother rebounding for her. She said she made 50 three-pointers in her pregame practice session, along with a host of free throws.
“She puts in the work, man,” Gourd Sr. said. “That’s always been one of her things is just getting those threes off.”
Gourd connected on six triples in the third quarter alone. She scored 20 in the period to surpass 40 on the evening by the end of the third quarter.
After one of Gourd’s threes, Gourd Sr. said he looked down at the score sheet and saw a lot of “3” markings by her name. He recalled asking assistant coach Rowdy Waters, “Should I take her out? She looks like she’s tired.”
And Waters responded, by Gourd Sr.’s recollection, “She’s hot.”
“And then I was looking at her,” Gourd Sr. said. “And she’s like, ‘Nope.’ She shook me off. Right after that, she hit another three, I think. A deep three, too.”
Her final three of the game was another shot from a few steps behind the arc. It was her last attempt, with Gourd Sr. about to pull his starters anyway.
Although overlooked by Gourd’s explosion, Hanson and Longie had productive scoring games, too. Hanson ended up with 18 points, all in the first three quarters. Longie scored 15 points with two triples.
“We need that balance,” Gourd Sr. said. “I encourage them to shoot it as much as they can. If they’re confident. We can’t expect Suri to score 48 points every night, so we need that balance from the other girls. And, I mean, they had solid games. I thought they worked hard, and then they rotated well. And we looked better tonight than we did previous games.”
Gourd said this win gives the team a lot of confidence that it can compete in a tough Region 2.
“Just keep going,” Gourd said. “That’s what we have been saying in the locker room.”
After time expired, and the players departed the floor, Gourd Sr. shared a few words with Grafton head coach Wade Haugen.
During the game, Haugen had yelled at Gourd Sr. across the court for pressing while up by 30-plus points. But their postgame interaction ended with smiles and a handshake. After Grafton’s success against FW/M last year, the Indians drew the first punch this season.
FW/M might be on the verge of making some noise in Region 2.
“I think we’re a bit of a dark horse,” Gourd Sr. said. “And like Wade said, we’re both underdogs, and we’re both rooting for each other. It was a good win. It definitely was good. Yeah, the last region tournament, we definitely remember that. But it was a good win for us. It’s a good start to region play, and I’ll take it.”
The Indians host Wahpeton on Friday for a non-region game.
