Bison plow past Pony girls in Great Falls

The Havre High girls basketball team was looking for a signature road win over Great Falls High to take home for the holidays. Unfortunately for the Blue Ponies, the Lady Bison had other ideas.

In a battle between non-conference foes, Great Falls High took care of their Class A rivals to the north, knocking off HHS 74-51 Tuesday night in Great Falls at Swarthout Fieldhouse in the final night of high school basketball before the holiday break.

“I was pretty pleased with how we played,” HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. “I wish that we wouldn’t have given up so many points. That’s probably the biggest thing and if there was anything I was disappointed in, it was that. Our help defense is decent. Our rotations need work. I thought the Bison did a nice job of exposing some things that we need to do better.”

The Bison, who are now 4-1 with the win, jumped out to an early 9-4 lead over Havre, before the Ponies battled back, and thanks to a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers by Naomi Terry, and a hoop by Danielle Wallace, HHS took a 17-16 at the end of the first quarter.

Things started to unravel in the second quarter for the Ponies as the Bison outscored Havre 25-13 in the eight minutes before halftime. The Bison buried a couple treys to open the stanza and grabbed a seven-point lead. Wallace and Kristen Nash each converted a few buckets to keep Havre in the game and a Wallace free throw got the Ponies within five at 35-30 with 2:42 before intermission.

However, Nora Klick, a University of Montana commit, scored six straight points to close the half, putting the Bison in front 41-30 midway through the contest.

In the third quarter, the Bison got two treys from Hannah Collins that pushed the lead to 17 points. Great Falls Hjgh led by as many as 20 points at one time, but Terry hit another shot from beyond the arc and then Dani Wagner notched a bucket, getting Havre within striking distance at the end of the third, 54-39.

“They hit a few threes there in the second half and that kind of put us in a panic,” Kraske said. “And then the floodgates kind of opened a bit. We got it back to 15, but then just kind of hung around.”

In the fourth quarter, the Bison pulled away for good. Great Falls High scored 20 points in the last eight minutes compared to just 12 for HHS to cement the 23-point win. With the loss, the Ponies fall to 2-3 on the season.

Collins was the top performer in the game for either team as she finished with a game-high 25 points, 15 of which came in the second half. Klick also contributed in the win with 14 points. Terry had a solid outing for Havre and scored 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Wagner also finished with 15 points after being held to just three in the first half.

Regardless of the defeat, Kraske was happy with his team, especially with the experience some of his young players were able to get against the talented Bison.

“It’s kind of a growing process for the whole squad,” Kraske said. “Any time we get on the court, we are getting better and I know that score may not show it, but Great Falls is a nice team that is very well coached. We just need to come back after the holiday and get back to work.”

Havre will get nearly 10 days of rest before their next game, which is Jan. 2 against Malta, the defending Class B state champions.

Great Falls High 74, Havre 51

Havre 17 13 9 12 – 51

GFH 16 25 13 20 -- 74

Havre -- Ceyara Plante 1 2-2 4, Dani Wagner 4 7-10 15, Danielle Wallace 3 1-2 7, Kristen Nash 3 0-0 6, Naomi Terry 5 2-2 15, Kaylee Nystrom 2 0-0 4. Totals: 18 12-16.

GFH – Hannah Collins 9 4-6 25, Nora Klick 5 2-4 14, Gabby Fought 3 2-2 10, Emma Madsen 4 0-0 8, Danielle Devlin 3 0-0 6, Sarah Dutro 1 0-0 2, Marissa Meyer 1 0-0 2, Molly Schmitz 3 0-0 7. Totals: 29 8-12.

Team fouls – Havre 13, GFH 16. Fouled out – none. 3-pointers – Terry 3, Fought 2, Collins 3, Klick 2, Schmitz 1.