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EspañolMar. 3—GRAND FORKS — The Devils Lake girls basketball program has been a consistent winner across decades, both in Class A of the former two-class system in North Dakota and in Division A of the current three-class setup.
This year, though, the Firebirds didn't have it easy, despite being led by two key pieces of state tournament teams from 2024 and 2025.
Devils Lake lost the first two games of the season and 10 overall.
But the 15-10 Firebirds are hitting their stride at the right time of the year. After winning a state championship in 2024 and finishing fourth in 2025, the Firebirds are flying a little under the radar as the No. 6 seed in this weekend's Division A state tournament in Jamestown. Devils Lake plays Valley City in Thursday's quarterfinals at 2:45 p.m.
"The other years, we had really good seniors and they led us and we had a good record going into the regionals favored," Devils Lake standout Tylie Brodina said. "This year was a struggle. We have a lot of freshmen.
"It was a little frustrating because we're not really used to that. Once we figured it out and how we're going to be subbing ... once we figured out what our bodies can do, we've been pretty good."
Devils Lake opened the year with a 69-65 loss to Valley City, then fell hard to Turtle Mountain 72-41. The Firebirds wrapped up the pre-Christmas schedule with a loss to Minot North to sit at 2-3.
The Firebirds needed to adjust to a tighter rotation, especially after sophomore guard Dottie Goss went down with an injury early in the season.
"It was slow going for a while," Devils Lake coach Justin Klein said. "Some of the teams we played were sharp, and we weren't. We've been playing better down the stretch. The way we play, the style we have with up-tempo and full-court pressure ... we were used to subbing kids in and keeping a pace. Our starters were having to play more minutes this year. We were asking young kids, freshmen, to do more and that took time."
Brodina, a 5-foot-8 junior guard, leads the charge for the Firebirds with 18.8 points per game. Brodina, who passed 1,000 career points back in December, has received college basketball scholarship offers from a pair of Northern Sun programs in the area — Minot State and the University of Mary.
Seniors Presley Brown (12.8 points), Mia Elsperger (7.5 points) and Jenae Martinson (5.0 points), along with junior Ava Beck (6.8 points) also provide scoring punch. Freshman Tenley Triepke has added a boost in recent games, while Klein said Elsperger has played a key role, especially defensively where the 5-foot-10 forward has matched up with Region 2 standout guards Addison Sage of Thompson and Suri Gourd of Four Winds-Minnewaukan.
Brodina said the Firebirds still like to score in transition, even with a tighter rotation.
"I don't think we necessarily slow down but maybe we don't press as much," she said. "We play best when we move the ball, find open teammates and push the ball in transition. When we're scoring transition layups, we're a good team."
Brodina said a season-opening 69-65 loss to Valley City was actually an encouraging starting point to the season. The Hi-Liners beat Thompson 67-44 for the 2025 state championship.
"We felt like if they won state last year, and we can hang with them ...," Brodina said. "It was a good starting game to get us going."