Big road game tonight for HHS girls

The Havre High girls basketball team has played some important games already this season, but none are bigger than the one the Blue Ponies will play tonight.

Havre, which is 4-4 overall and 3-0 in the Central A, will put its perfect conference record on the line tonight in Browning, where it will face the Indians, who are 6-2 overall and 2-0 in conference. The two teams will do battle at 7. The Ponies will return home to the HHS gymnasium Saturday for a non-conference tilt with Rocky Boy that will start at approximately 6:30 p.m.

“We have had a great week of practice,” HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. “The kids are excited. They are looking forward to getting on the bus and going to play a team from the Central A that we know is pretty good.”

Last season, the Ponies swept Browning and if they are going to do it again this season, they will need to start by winning on the road. Winning away from home is never easy and it’s something Havre has done just once in three tries this season. One thing that will help the Pony cause immensely is the fact that HHS boasts two of the top individual players in the Central A.

When it comes to Class A basketball, there are few players that can score like Dani Wagner, who is second in the state with a scoring average of 18.13 points per game. What makes Havre even more dangerous offensively, though, is the presence of Naomi Terry, who ranks 11th in Class A with 13.63 points, giving the Ponies two talented scorers and the top scoring duo in Class A with more than 31 points a game.

After Wagner and Terry, the Ponies have yet to develop a consistent third scorer. Danielle Wallace currently ranks third on the team with 5.1 points per game, Kristen Nash is fourth with 4.63 points per game and fifth is Marca Herron with 3.43 points per game.

“That’s something we are trying to work on,” Kraske said. “I don’t think we can rely on Dani and Naomi to score 40 points a game for us. That’s just not realistic. They are both having tremendous seasons, but it would be hard to keep that up all year. We have some kids that are working hard and getting good shots, they just need to start going in. We as coaches have seen them do it in practice, so it’s coming. I think they are getting more confident with the experience they are getting and it’s only a matter of time before that starts to show even more.”

In addition to their periodic struggles offensively, the Havre defense has also not lived up to the standards of year’s past. The Ponies are giving up an average of more than 50 points per game, when last season, HHS allowed barely more than 40. The Pony defense will certainly be tested against Browning, which leads the Central A in scoring with an average of 56 points a game. The Indians are led by Tiara Gilham, who is fourth in the conference in scoring with 13.5 points a game. Browning also has three other players that average more than seven points a game, including Taylor CalfBossRibs, who is averaging 10.7 per game.

“Gilham is a good player,” Kraske said. “Dani is going to have the task of guarding her. And she is going to be a big focus for us as a team. Overall though, we just need to keep working on the small things. We do a great job of holding teams to a tough first shot, then give up and offensive rebound, or have a great first rotation, then miss the second one. So we just need to keep getting better at all those little things.”

Thanks to wins over Livingston, Belgrade and Lewistown already, if the Ponies could secure a win over Browning, they would complete the first half of the conference schedule unbeaten, while also putting themselves in a great position to be the top seed from the Central A at the Eastern A divisional.

“That’s what you want to do,” Kraske said. “Is put yourself in a position to have at minimum a one-game lead in the league halfway through the schedule. We aren’t going to get too high or too low regardless of the result, but it would be nice to do that.”

After paying a visit to Browning, the Ponies will be back in Havre to take on Class B rival Rocky Boy. The Morning Stars will come into the game with a 3-5 record thanks to a pair of losses to Malta and Choteau last weekend.

Last season, Havre beat Rocky Boy twice and if Rocky Boy is going to turn the tables on the Ponies, it will need great performances from players such as Maya Reed, Jurnee LaForge, Sean Henry, Jaylynn Mitchell and Rosie Parker.

“I don’t know a lot about Rocky Boy,” Kraske said. “But I know their coach (Jazz Parker) and he does a good job. He will have his kids playing hard, so it should be a fun game.”

Havre and Browning will tip-off tonight at 7 in Browning. The Ponies will then face Rocky Boy Saturday at 6:30 p.m.