State champions: Blue Ponies bring first Class A girls state title back to Havre in 17 years

GREAT FALLS - State championships of any kind are hard to come by. They don't happen every day. And that's why Saturday night in Great Falls will be a night the Havre High girls basketball team, and Blue Pony fans everywhere, will never forget.

In front of a huge Havre contingent, with a raucous HHS student section, band and cheer squad, the Blue Pony girls won their first state championship in 17 years Saturday night at the Four Seasons Arena, defeating the Hamilton Broncs 52-43 in the 2014 Class A state championship game.

The win was Havre's fourth-ever state title in girls basketball, with the last one coming in 1997 when the Blue Ponies beat Dillon for the Class A state title.

But Saturday night, in exciting fashion, HHS ended that drought, and the win over the Broncs was the culmination of a great journey for the Blue Ponies, many of whom have been playing together since middle school.

"I'm very proud of this team," Blue Pony head coach Dustin Kraske said. "And I'm very happy for these kids. This is a special group. They've worked very hard over the years, and they deserve this. I'm happy for our community and our school. I'm just very proud to be a Blue Pony.

"I don't think it has hit us all yet," said HHS junior Tori Mazurkiewicz. "It is amazing and is the best feeling I have ever had, and the feeling built up. We were all looking at each other, smiling, because we knew we finally did it. All the work finally paid off."

Havre was indeed special against the Broncs Saturday night, led by Brandy Lambourne's 25 points. Lambourne, who was easily the state tourney MVP, paced the Ponies in scoring in all three of their state tourney wins. She started with 21 points Thursday night against Frenchtown, and dropped 19 in Havre's semifinal victory over Laurel Friday night. Against Hamilton, she hit three critical 3-pointers, including one just before the end of the first half, and another as time expired on the third quarter. That trey was a dagger as Hamilton had crept within to within five points just before she hit the shot.

But as spectacular as Lambourne played all weekend, she was just excited to be a piece of what turned out to be a great HHS team, a team which won its last seven games of the season, culminating with Saturday night's state championship.

"We are all really good friends, and that really helped us out late in the season," the four-year starter said. "We just kept talking throughout the entire weekend, and we were always pushing each other during the timeouts. We peaked at the right time for sure."

Morgan Mazurkiewicz added nine points and five critical free throws for the Ponies, while Peyton Filius and Tori Mazurkiewicz scored five each and sophomore Dani Wagner added four points in the historic victory.

And a historic victory it was. Havre, led by Kraske, was playing in its third straight state tournament, had won three consecutive Central A championships and had reached the state semifinals one year ago. That was already a great list of accomplishments, but Saturday night, the Ponies and their five seniors put a final exclamation point on what had already been a tremendous ride.

"They've put in hundreds of hours in the gym, they've worked hard individually and together," Kraske said. "We have kids who bought into and believed in what we were doing and they all accepted and played their own role and did it all very well. It's just a really special group, and I'm so happy for them that they get to experience this. There's no other feeling like this."

"I can't explain how I feel right now because it is so exciting," said senior Lacey Waid. "We did it, we finally did it and it is just exciting. I am bawling, then I am excited again, then I am bawling, then excited again. This is something we can definitely be proud of and look back on forever."

Sunday night, the team was honored with a parade from Holiday Village Mall, Kraske, assistant Kelly Mazurkiewicz and members of the Blue Ponies spoke to parents and fans about the experience of winning a state championship, while also thanking all of their supporters.

"This success is a product of the unconditional love and support these kids have for each other," Kraske said inside the HHS Auditorium. "I told the kids last night (Saturday) they will never take this state championship trophy down. Divisional trophies get moved or taken down through the years, but the state championship ones stay in the trophy cases forever. So I'm so happy that all of these kids will get to come back here for the rest of their lives and see this trophy in the trophy case here at Havre High."