Defending Class A champs, Valley City, expecting to be targeted

Dec. 4—VALLEY CITY, N.D. — Every team in the Class A Division is going to be gunning for Valley City this winter.

"Success from last year doesn't mean success for this year, but now we have a different mindset," Valley City head coach James Howard said. "We're now the team everyone wants to beat, and not that long ago, we were just trying to beat everybody. We're going to get everyone's best game, and we have to continue to do what we do well and continue to buy into what we do."

Howard and the Hi-Liners are coming off their first-ever state championship. The squad trounced Thompson 67-44 in the Class A title game. Overall, the Hi-Liners finished the year at 24-2.

"We're excited for the season," Howard said. "This is all new territory for us — winning our first state title ever last year — we've never had to come off from doing that. It's going to be a new experience for us. We're excited for it, but we also know it is going to be a lot of hard work."

Thankfully for Howard, the Hi-Liners are accustomed to working hard.

"We're a team that gives great effort," Howard said. "Effort is probably the No. 1 thing in our program. The kids work hard every year whether we are winning or losing, we have kids who play really hard."

First-team all-stater Katie Burchill will be back in action for the Hi-Liners. Burchill, a junior, was named to the Region 1 All-Region Team and was named the MVP of the 2025 state tournament. Other All-Region selections Skye Nielson and Dacota Potratz are also expected back for their sophomore and senior seasons, respectively.

"We're a little old school in that we don't play just off of the 3-point line," Howard said. "We like to play in the paint and use that to convert some outside shots. We tend to play inside-out instead of outside-in, which is really different for a lot of teams. Rebounding is also a big emphasis for us."

Burchill, Nielson and Potratz nabbed an average of 21 rebounds per game. Senior Maddie Frieze averaged more than nine points and three rebounds per game last year. She was named as one of the Hi-Liners starters as a junior.

"She's a big 3-point shooter and just a kid who gives effort and hustle," Howard said of Frieze. "She was a big part of our team knowing how to space the floor last year."

Kailee Nielson was out last season with an injury, but Howard is hoping she can come back and be a piece the Hi-Liners can use this winter. Kinslee Glandt is a sophomore point guard who Howard is hoping can fill the point guard position at the varsity level. Mariah Frieze is another guard who was out of playing contention with an injury last season, but Howard said he hopes she can take some strides to become a key contributor this year.

In total, Howard said he is expecting 14 girls out for the year. Other teams in the area are also expecting fewer than 15 girls this season.

"We knew that our numbers were going to be low," Howard said. "It's been declining for a few years. I think some of the travel or AAU that combines grades and excludes some kids at a younger age can make them feel behind as a seventh grader and they don't want to play.

"Some other teams have a bunch of kids who have been playing since third or fourth grade and it's not their favorite sport, they can get burned out by the time that they are freshmen and don't want to come out to play anymore," he said. "I've also heard from a few different people that the running aspect can turn people away."

While there will always be running involved in basketball, the Valley City program has done what it can to attract young athletes to the sport. A few years ago, Valley City began a program for third through sixth grade students where they get to play for a month and a half.

"We've got some good numbers there," Howard said. "There's some grades with some numbers — I just hope five kids in each grade stay out."

Even with only 14 kids on the roster, Howard said he is expecting to battle every night — which won't be easy.

"Kindred — we split with them last year — they are always tough," Howard said. "Central Cass is tough ... Northern Cass got a new coach and they finished the year strong last year. They did graduate (Haidyn) Crockett, but now they've got some kids stepping in there so they could be tough.

"We have some really good teams in our region that are going to push us and we're going to push them," he said. "We've got the target on our back. Everyone is coming for us."