Havre High girls blow out rival Panthers, Rangers on the road

When it comes to Central A conference play, the Havre High girls basketball team knows it’s a different animal. Those games are the ones stressed by head coach Dustin Kraske on the Blue Ponies’ schedule and the extra attention given to them continues to pay dividends.

Following a season opening loss to Malta, Havre, the defending Class A state champions, looked the part this past weekend with blowout wins over Central A rivals Belgrade and Livingston. Havre opened the weekend in Belgrade Friday and cruised to a 54-27 win over their Central A rival.

Saturday in Livingston, the story was similar as the Ponies dominated from start to finish on their way to a 57-36 win. The sweep improved Havre’s record to 2-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play.

“I thought we came out and played with a sense of urgency,” Kraske said. “The kids know these conference games are important. It’s something that we talk about and focus on. They know that even though it’s early in the season, we are playing for divisionals and these are the games that are really important when it comes to that.”

It didn’t take long for the Ponies to prove their supremacy against the Panthers Friday as Morgan Mazurkiewicz scored the game’s first eight points to give HHS an 8-0 lead. By the end of the first quarter the lead was 12-6 in favor of Havre.

In the second quarter, the Ponies extended their lead thanks to Mazurkiewicz, who scored seven points, while Naomi Terry added six, including a trey to help Havre build a 31-14 halftime advantage.

Terry added two more 3-pointers in the second half on her way to a total of 14 points and the Ponies rolled to an easy 27-point win.

Mazurkiewicz slowed down in the second half, scoring just six points over the final 16 minutes but that coupled with the 13 she scored in the opening half gave her a team-high 19 points. Lindsey Kudrna added eight points in the win. Alexis Clingingsmith led the way for Belgrade with eight points, while Erin Singleton contributed with seven.

“Naomi played really well,” Kraske said. “She was able to put some pressure on their point guard, which I thought made a difference. Then, she was kind of able to get a sweat going and I think that got her into the game. I thought she shot the ball really well. But overall, I thought all of our kids played well.”

Terry continued her hot shooting Saturday in Livingston. She knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter along with a 2-pointer to help Havre take a 19-8 lead after one over the Rangers.

In the second quarter, the Pony defense flexed its muscle, holding the Rangers to just a single basket. Havre outscored Livingston 22-2 in the quarter. Terry added seven more points with a 3-pointer and four free throws as the Ponies took a 41-10 lead into halftime.

In the second half, the Ponies were not quite as dominant as in the first and outscored the Rangers just 8-7 in the third before being outscored 19-8 by the Rangers in the final stanza. But in the end, it didn’t matter as Havre won easily by the score of 57-36.

“I don’t think we played as well in the second half against Livingston as we could have,” Kraske said. “We had some younger players in the game, but we still could have played better, so that’s something we talked about after the game.”

Terry was the high-scorer in the game for HHS with 17 points, 15 of which came in the first half. Morgan Mazurkiewicz and Dani Wagner added nine, while Tori Mazurkiewicz pitched in with eight. Sierra Higgs had 11 to lead the way for the Rangers.

With the wins, the Ponies are well-positioned in the Central A race and will be back in action Jan. 2, when Havre will host Great Falls High before travelling to Malta Jan. 3. But even with a 2-1 record and a 2-0 mark in conference play, Kraske still sees plenty of room for improvement.

“We need to do a better job of playing 32 minutes of basketball,” Kraske said. “I don’t think we did that this weekend. We need to do a better job offensively. There were times where we did a good job and were moving the basketball but there were other times where we didn’t do that as much. So we can do a better job of that and having more urgency when it comes to moving the basketball.”

Havre 54, Belgrade 27

Havre 12 19 8 16 – 54

Belgrade 6 8 4 9 – 27

Havre - Ceyara Plante 5, Dani Wagner 2, Morgan Mazurkiewicz 19, Tori Mazuriewicz 4, Naomi Terry 14, Lindsey Kudrna 8, Holly Purkett 2.

Havre 57, Livingston 36

Havre 19 22 8 18 – 57

Livingston 8 2 7 19 – 36

Havre – Ceyara Plante 3, Dani Wagner 9, Morgan Mazuriewicz 9, Tori Mazurkiewicz 8, Naomi Terry 17, Rachel Majeres 2, Maya Reed 1, Holly Purkett 4, Lindsey Kudrna 2, Kristen Nash 2.