Aiming for Great Falls: HHS girls seek third Central A title

The Havre High girls basketball team is no stranger to success at the Central A Divisional tournament. And the Blue Ponies are gunning for more of it this weekend.

After a 61-38 win over conference rival Browning to end the regular season, the Central A Blue Ponies are headed back to the divisional tournament in Belgrade as the No. 1 seed for the second consecutive year. But as the reigning champions, the Ponies will also look to defend their title at the divisional tournament that runs today through Saturday at the Belgrade Special Events Center.

As the No. 1 seed the Ponies (7-1) have a first-round bye. The first game for the Ponies will be Friday night at 8 p.m. in the semifinals, facing either No. 4 Belgrade (2-6) or No. 5 Livingston (1-7). No. 2 Browning (5-3) and No. 3 Lewistown (5-3) will also play in the semifinals Friday, all leading up to Saturday’s championship matchup.

The extra day of rest will benefit the Ponies, but waiting on an opponent does have it’s faults as well.

“We will have to do some prep work for both teams (Belgrade and Livingston),” Havre High head coach Dustin Kraske said. “It doesn’t put us at a disadvantage, but we do have to prepare for two styles of play prior to even going down there. But we will watch them play Thursday night, have practice Friday morning, and talk about the team we play before we see them Friday night. They aren’t extreme differences, but they do have different styles of play.”

The biggest differences between the Belgrade Panthers and Livingston Rangers comes on the defensive side of the ball. That makes the HHS offense responsible for making the necessary adjustments when the Ponies know their first opponent. The Rangers ran a 2-3 zone against the Ponies during the regular season, but it wasn’t very effective as HHS racked up 122 points in the two wins. The Panthers don’t often stray from their man-to-man defense, but also like to get after teams with an up-tempo press and trap. But the HHS offense also had good success against the Panthers’ press, racking up 123 points in two wins against Belgrade as well.

Peyton Filius and Brandy Lambourne anchored the HHS offensive efforts during the regular season and should carry the majority of the load again. But as the Ponies have the ability to run and gun, as well as slow down in the half court, Morgan Mazurkiewicz, Tori Mazurkiewicz, Lacey Waid and Dani Wagner also have the ability to get into the scoring action. Filius and Lambourne both enter the weekend scoring more than 12 points per game while Morgan Mazurkiewicz adds another 11 per outing. The HHS offense is also second in the conference in points per game with more than 53, and second in the conference in two-point field goal shooting at 41 percent. The Ponies are first in the conference in 3-point shooting at 33 percent.

The Rangers shoot 33 percent from 3-point range, while Browning scores almost 50 points per game. The Rangers, Eagles, and Panthers have struggled to win in conference as all three score less than 43 points per game.

The Blue Pony defense can also take on several different variations, giving teams a tough time. HHS can run man looks, as well as zone looks, while also pestering teams with different variations in their full-court press. The up tempo suits the Ponies, leading the league in steals, as well as turning the ball over the second-fewest times in the league.

But after the dominating win to end the regular season, the Ponies head into the postseason with confidence. They handily took down the second-place Indians and proved they are still the team to beat, even with some regular season bumps in the road. Havre and Browning could be headed for another showdown in Saturday night’s championship game.

“We had a great week of practice last week (before the Browning game),” Kraske said. “We also practiced very well yesterday (Monday) and I anticipate the next few days will be exactly the same. Our kids are focused and just ready to go to the tournament.

“Based on the regular season records it will probably be Browning and us pushing for the championship,” Kraske added. “But Lewistown did give us fits when we played on the road, and I think anybody can beat anybody. It is tournament time, everybody starts over and you have to play well, but I do like our chances. You have to play well to advance.”

The Ponies will look to make it three Central A titles in a row, and the quest starts with either Livingston or Belgrade Friday at 8 p.m. The Central A championship game is set for 6 p.m. Saturday, and the top two teams from the Central A will advance to the Class A state tournament March 13-15 in Great Falls.