Bruins let second half lead slip away

Fargo South again played good basketball for most of the night, but a 5 minute stretch filled with turnovers and missed freethrows spelled doom on Friday night as the Bruins let an 11 point second half lead disappear and lost to the visiting Firebirds 69-65. South got off to a good start and controlled the first half. Madeline Strandemo got off to a hot start, as she scored 8 of South's first 10 points of the game, staking South to a 10-7 lead just 3 minutes into the game. Emily Stroup and Anna Foss then took up some of the scoring, as they scored the next 11 points, the last three coming on a three point play by Foss, to maintain the Bruin lead at 21-17 with 7 minutes to play. Madeline Strandemo highlighted her first half with a steal and layup, and Bria Taber grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a putback basket right at the halftime buzzer to give South a 35-27 lead at the break. The second half continued the momentum for South, as Strandemo again hit a basket and followed that up shortly after with her third three pointer of the night, giving South their biggest lead of the game at 43-32 with 15 minutes to play. But thats when the Bruins hit their rough patch. The next 7 minutes of game action saw the Firebirds go on a 19-5 run as South went 1-7 from the freethrow line over that stretch, and have 7 turnovers. At the end of that ugliness, the Bruins found themselves trailing 51-48 with 8 minutes to play. Still in contention, but the momentum had clearly swung to the Firebirds side. Madeline Strandemo tried to keep South going from there. A pair of freethrows by her was followed up with a steal and layup, and it was 53-52 Devils Lake with 7 minutes to go. But that's as close as South would be the rest of the game. 3 more turnovers allowed the Firebirds to build a 61-54 lead with 3 minutes to play. South tried to claw back one more time, with a pair of freethrows by Anna Diederich and a Bria Taber hoop off of a nice pass from Strandemo, which cut the lead to 61-58 with just under 2 minutes left, but Devils Lake responded with some key points late. A late three pointer by Strandemo and a bakset by Anna Foss finished out the scoring at 69-65 Firebirds. Strandemo led 3 Bruins in double figure scoring with 24 points. The loss drops the Bruins to 1-10 on the season. Next action for South is next Friday when they travel to Red River.

play by play of the game
complete boxscore

Boxscore:
Fargo South: Erickson 1 2-4 4, Strandemo 8 4-5 24, Taber 4 4-7 12, Foss 4 1-4 9, Stroup 2 0-0 4, May 0 0-2 0, Diederich 4 2-5 12; Totals: 23 13-27 65, Three point goals: Strandemo 4, Diederich 2

Devils Lake: Swanson 0 6-8 6, Lysne 5 1-3 11, Pike 1 0-0 2, Lunday 3 4-4 10, Walford 3 0-0 6, Schafer 10 7-13 28, Knowski 1 2-2 4, Nelson 0 2-4 2; Totals: 23 22-34 69, Three point goals: Schafer

Fouled out: Knowski, Diederich; Total Fouls: South 22, DL 23; Rebounds: South 45(Strandemo, Foss 7), DL 43(Lysne 8); Assists: South 18(3 with 4), DL 14(Lysne 5), Steals: South 13(Strandemo, Foss 4), DL 15 9; Turnovers: South 22, DL 19