Devils Lake holds on late, tops Central Cass to earn spot in Division A state tournament
· Yahoo Sports
Feb. 28—MAYVILLE — What's the best advice to hold onto a slim fourth-quarter lead with a state tournament berth on the line?
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For Devils Lake coach Justin Klein, the answer didn't necessarily come easy after an emotional, hectic 52-48 win over Central Cass Saturday in Mayville.
"Keep playing hard, I guess," Klein said, hesitating for at least five seconds after the question. "There was no quit in the kids. Things probably weren't the greatest in the first half for us but I thought we did a real nice job in the second half running the offense and executing. We did an excellent job finishing the game. ... We ran the clock down and got ourselves good shots — good execution."
The win puts Devils Lake in the state Division A tournament, which begins Thursday in Jamestown.
The do-or-die matchup Saturday wasn't an easy win for the Firebirds, who improve to 15-10. Central Cass ends its season 13-12. Both teams ended up in the play-in game after falling short in regional play earlier in the week; Devils Lake finished third in Region 2, while Central Cass was second in Region 1.
Saturday, both teams struggled to get established, trading leads throughout the game. Devils Lake led 15-13 after the first quarter and 27-22 at halftime.
Amid a slow start, Tenley Triepke's play kept Devils Lake ahead. The freshman reserve guard hit a driving shot two minutes into the game to give the Firebirds their first points, and scored nine points overall in the first half as Devils Lake took a 27-22 lead.
Central Cass rallied in the third, getting points from a number of sources — including 3-pointers from Keelyn Flanagan and Jacie Verkuehlen — to take a 37-36 lead with 2:20 left in the quarter.
But Devils Lake stuck to its pressure defense, took advantage of Central Cass turnovers and twice performed a bit of an old-fashioned, clock-burning weave — straight out of an era before the shot clock was instituted — to earn the win.
After a Central Cass miss, the Firebirds went ahead 49-45 with two free throws from Presley Brown with 2:47 to play. The Squirrels then lost the ball on an over-and-back call, prompting the Firebirds to go into their first ball-control weave. They may have waited too long, however, and forced a shot as the shot clock wound down.
Ava Beck got the rebound, starting another 35 seconds on the shot clock and again prompting another weave by the Firebirds. This time, it ended with another Brown free throw — giving Devils Lake a 50-45 lead — followed by a Central Cass missed shot with 40 seconds to play.
And then some dramatics: The Firebirds missed two free throws and Central Cass followed with a 3-pointer from Kenley Haug with 13 seconds left, cutting Devils Lake's lead to 50-48.
An errant throw on an in-bound play was recovered by Brown, who hit two more free throws, putting the game out of reach.
"We had to come together and get it done," Devils Lake senior Mia Elsperger said. "We knew it was going to be a tough dogfight, but we just had to come out and play."
Going back to state "is so amazing. I can't wait," she added.
Elsperger and Tylie Brodina both had 13 points for Devils Lake, while Ava Beck and Triepke had 11 and nine, respectively. Beck also had nine rebounds and Brown had five assists.
Devils Lake was 18-of-48 from the field and 13-of-21 from the line and had 35 rebounds overall.
For Central Cass, Kenley Haug and Verkhuehlen both had 13 points. The Squirrels were 17-of-46 from the field, 9-of-12 from the line and had 28 rebounds.
"When we stayed calm and would run our things and get to the right spots, we had success. We just fell a little short. We missed a couple of layups and a few open shots that really cost us," Central Cass coach Jay Bachman said. "We didn't give up. It was a close, hard-fought game that was back and forth. I don't know how many lead changes there were, but there were a few. I'm proud of the girls — they never gave up. We fought until the last two seconds, and that's all you can ask for."
Devils Lake finished fourth at last year's state tournament after winning the title in 2024. This year's team has had some "ups and downs," Klein said.
"We still have some kids from that team that have battled through adversity," he said.