State A Preview: Now it's their turn

Heading into its third straight Class A state tournament, the Havre High girls basketball team is sitting in pretty good position to make an exciting run at a Class A state championship.

Two weeks ago the Blue Ponies followed a regular season title with a divisional title in Belgrade. The Central A title was also the third straight for head coach Dustin Kraske and his Ponies. And if the trend of winning continues, the Ponies are also looking to return to Havre with a state title. Havre last won a state title in 1997, a 62-43 win over Dillon.

Thursday through Saturday, the Class A state tournament will take place at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls. The Ponies (14-6) take on Frenchtown, the No. 2 team out of the Northwest, Thursday at 8 p.m.

“I think all of the games are going to be good,” coach Kraske said. “And I don’t think any team can ever sneak into state, you have to earn it. But I think we are a good team in our own right and I expect our girls to play well. It will be a fun and exciting tournament. All eight kids that we play need to play well. The teams that have a couple players out there that you don’t have to guard, they turned in their gear already. The eight teams here are good, so we have to be ready to go.”

A year ago the Ponies went into the state tournament as a No. 1 seed and went 1-2. HHS defeated Stevensville 40-36, but suffered a tough 46-35 loss to Laurel in the semifinals. Laurel went on to win the state title. The Ponies also lost out to Butte Central 51-37.But this year the Ponies parlay the experience they have earned the last three years at state into what could be another strong showing.

HHS has five seniors on the roster, and Peyton Filius, Brandy Lambourne and Lacey Waid have competed at the state tournament since their sophomore season. But throw in junior Morgan Mazurkiewicz who played as a freshman, and the Ponies have four girls with a lot of state experience to help lead the way this weekend in Great Falls.

“We have the experience we need to play well,” Kraske said. “Peyton, Brandy and Lacey have been on varsity all four years and are going to their third state tournament. But so is Morgan, and we are happy with where our team is at right now. They are all practicing very well, they had a fantastic season and we are looking forward to going down there and watching this team play. We have been there before, so let’s go lace ’em up and go play ball.”

Both Filius and Lambourne lead the Ponies in scoring with almost 13 points per game each. Morgan Mazurkiewicz adds another 11 per game, while Waid adds more than four points and four rebounds per game as well. Filius, Lambourne and Morgan Mazurkiewicz are also shooting at least 30 percent from behind the 3-point arc. But the Ponies’ title hopes also depend on how well they can play, not just their experience.

With the upperclassmen leadership, the Ponies also have a lot of talented players to go along with Filius, Lambourne, Waid and Morgan Mazurkiewicz.

Tori Mazuriewciz is another talented guard who can give the Ponies points and solid defensive stretches. Breck Don also gets leaned on for her defensive efforts, while post players like Haley Ohm can hold down the paint with her size and length. Ohm is averaging over four points per game, and while she doesn’t shoot a lot, she is averaging 51 percent from two-point field goal range. Dani Wagner is another role player that has gained more and more minutes over the season and could prove to be difference-maker as well.

And Frenchtown will test the Ponies in the first round.

Vanessa Stavish is undoubtedly the leader of the Broncs and her offensive production will come from all over the floor. Stavish is a MSU-Billings prospect and will attempt to take down the Ponies with her inside game and ability to knock down 3-pointers. But Kayla Blood, a point guard, and Haley Cyr, a shooting guard, also add to the Broncs’ depth.

“They are very well-balanced and a nice team,” Kraske said, “but we aren’t changing much to get ready for them. We are going to play like we play and do what we do because we have been happy with the results to date. We may adjust to some small subtle things, but not much.”

Havre High can also score from all over the floor, but the defense will need to have a decent outing. The Ponies can press teams and wear them down, forcing bad passes and ample turnovers. But the Ponies can also settle into a tough half-court man-to-man defense and continue to fluster the opposition’s offensive plans with active hands and clogging up the passing lanes.

“Our kids have bought into what we do defensively, and I would expect us to defend well this weekend,” Kraske said. “And it is important for us to control the tempo, but we also need to push the ball even faster when we have the chance. It is a bigger floor, so we can throw the ball ahead and trust our teammate to go get it and lay it in. We have good team quickness, and we need to use that.”

At the state level any potential opponent is a talented one, and the Ponies are well aware of that. They are full-steam-ahead in preparation for Frenchtown, but when the Ponies know their next opponent, they will be prepared. Teams Like Laurel, the reigning state champions could be waiting for the Ponies in the semifinals Friday. Laurel typically runs a 2-3 zone on defense, and typically runs an offense that highlights athletes like Allie McGrath and Abbie Lohof any way it can. Win or lose, the Ponies could also run into Anaconda Friday. Anaconda also has some of the state’s top talent in players like Courtney Moodry who is averaging 15 points per game this season.

But the Class A field is deep all the way around. Miles City brings star players like Shaylee Singleton, while Hamilton has Taylor Gologoski who is averaging 20 points per game along with nine rebounds a game. Belgrade may have had a tough regular season, but they got hot come tournament time. Alexis Clingingsmith and Erin Singleton are among their top talent, while Columbia Falls is also going to push for a state title as the No. 1-ranked team in the state. With athletes like Haley Belgrade, Winter Kemppainen and freshman Cydney Finberg, the Wildcats will be tough to knock off over the next three days of action.

The 2014 Class A state tournament begins with Columbia Falls and Belgrade at 12:30 p.m. Thursday. Hamilton and Miles City will follow, while Laurel and Anaconda kick off the night session at 6:30 p.m. Havre will play Frenchtown at 8. If the Ponies win, they’ll play in the semifinals Friday at 8 p.m. A loss would send the Ponies into a loser-out game at 2 p.m. Friday.