Pony girls host Bison tonight

After reeling off an impressive six-game winning streak, four of which were conference wins, the Havre High girls basketball team is ready for another nonconference stretch to sharpen its skills.

The Central A Blue Ponies have been playing better and better with each passing game. They are comfortably at the top of the league standings with a flawless 6-0 record and have also pushed their overall record to an impressive 9-3 so far this season. Havre is now the fifth-ranked team in Class A.

But the Ponies will put their conference foes on the back burner for the next three matchups, including two this weekend. Tonight, the Ponies will host the Class AA Great Falls High Bison at the Havre High Gymnasium at 7. Saturday, the Ponies will return to the road to face the Class AA CMR Rustlers at 4 p.m. at the CMR Fieldhouse in Great Falls. The Bison have cruised through the schedule this season, sitting at 10-1 overall. The Rustlers have had their share of struggles and currently sit at 3-8 overall.

"Great Falls High is a very good basketball team, and CMR is playing very well right now," Havre High head coach Dustin Kraske said. "I know CMR has a new coach, but they are settling in, and I think that these are going to be two very good games against two good teams. We know we have to play well to beat both of these programs this weekend."

The Ponies defeated the Rustlers 39-23 in December, but the Bison defeated the Ponies 54-51 in early January.

Havre has played outstandingly lately, making this weekend all about consistency. The Ponies aren't in a situation where they need to expand their game plan or plan of attack, but instead are looking to stay hot and get ready for the divisional tournament in late February in Belgrade.

Offensively the Ponies are rolling through the opposing defensive looks. In the last five wins the Ponies have averaged more than 66 points per game, including a 70-point showing against Browning. Not only are Peyton Filius and Brandy Lambourne playing well as the Ponies' one-two punch, but Lacey Waid, Morgan Mazurkiewicz, Haley Ohm, Tori Mazurkiewicz and Dani Wagner are also staying very involved in the action.

But the HHS defense has also turned into a greedy presence on the hardwood. In the last two outings the Blue Ponies allowed a total of 49 points, 16 from Livingston and 33 from Belgrade.

"We need to play with poise and continue to play with a sense of urgency on both ends of the floor," Kraske said. "That has really helped us the last couple of weeks. Defensively we are on it, we are talking a lot, we are jumping the ball, being active and working well together. And offensively our spacing was the best it has been this past weekend, and our kids do a wonderful job of sharing the ball. It will be really important all this continues, as well as we need to continue to not force shots and find the open looks."

But as impressive as the numbers have been for Havre High, the Ponies know neither of the next two games will turn out to be easy outings.

Great Falls High, the No. 2 team in Class AA has a lot of talent, including Liz Klinker, Markaela Francis, Mercedes Bourgeau and Taylor Kumm. And the Rustlers house solid ball players like Taylor Edwards. And playing more physical and at a higher tempo than most of the Central A teams the Ponies face, this weekend will be good for the Ponies to work on making game adjustments. Havre will have to beat pressure and show they can execute a press offense in both games. The Ponies will also look to attack the basket against the press, something Kraske knows will be key once the Ponies reach the state tournament.

"The biggest thing right now is to just tweak what we have been doing already on the offensive end," Kraske said. "We need to be able to make adjustments against what the defense is going to try to run against us.

"We are like most teams at this point in the season, we are just playing comfortably together," Kraske added. "We need to continue to make practice difficult for our kids which only benefits us through the season. But Great Falls and CMR play a little differently than maybe the Class A opponents do that we have playing. Both really get in your face and pressure you, they make you put the ball on the floor and make you play quicker than you want. They are also more physical than teams we typically play so that will be a good adjustment for our girls. We need to come out and play how we play, but also control the tempo of how the game will be played."

Tonight the Ponies will host the Class AA Great Falls High Bison at the Havre High Gymnasium at 7. And Saturday the Ponies will take to the road to face the Class AA CMR Rustlers at 4 p.m. at the CMR Fieldhouse in Great Falls.