Pony girls power their way to a sweep

All season long, the Havre High girls basketball has hovered at or below the .500 mark. But after two wins this past weekend, they are finally above it for the first time this season.

Thanks to a solid 54-48 road win over Central A rival Browning on Friday night, followed by a 63-47 triumph over Rocky Boy Saturday inside the HHS gymnasium, the Blue Ponies are now 6-4 on the season and in the midst of a four-game winning streak. HHS is also in sole possession of first place in the Central with a perfect 4-0 mark. They lead Browning, which is 3-1 by one game.

"We are 4-0 league so we will take that," HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. "Our kids have really worked hard and now we have put ourselves in a good position. I think they have done a great job of continuing to get better and I think that shows a team that has some good things ahead of it."

After taking care of business in conference play Friday night, Havre returned to the Pony Corral for a showdown with its Class B rival, Rocky Boy. And in the first quarter, the game had the look of a barn-burner.

The Ponies jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead on the Morning Stars, thanks to a 3-pointer by Ceyara Plante and a two from Dani Wagner. Naomi Terry got in the act and buried a three minutes later to put HHS in front 13-5, but Rocky Boy closed the first quarter on a 10-2 run to tie the score up at 15-15.

"It was nice to see Ceyara make a couple of shots there for us" Kraske said. "She is starting to play with more confidence, and it was good to see her make some outside shots."

In the second quarter, Terry broke a 17-17 tie with her second triple of the game and following another bucket by Wagner the Ponies led 22-17. Wagner added four more points before the end of the first half and through two quarters, Havre led 29-23.

In the first few minutes of the third quarter, the two teams traded baskets and after a score by Jaylyn Mitchell, the Morning Stars were within five points at 33-28 with 4:25 left in the third. But at that point, Terry and Wagner took the game over.

Terry started the run with two free throws, then a hit a jumper to put Havre up 40-28. Then after two scores from Wagner, Terry buried a three late in the quarter to send the Ponies into the fourth leading 47-33 after a 14-5 spurt to close the quarter.

"They are both just good basketball players" Kraske said. "They have each been in our program for a while now. Naomi has been with us three years and Dani four and they just really understand how to play in our system."

Rocky Boy hung around for the first few minutes of the fourth, but the Morning Stars were never able to get the lead back to single digits. Terry added three more points in the fourth, while Wagner scored six more to help put the win away for HHS.

When it was all said and done, Wagner and Terry showed again why they are a leading scoring duo in Class A girls basketball right now, combining for 42 points in the win. Wagner led with a game-high 23, while Terry finished with 19. Plante also put together a solid effort for Havre with nine, while Kristen Nash contributed with six. Rosie Parker was the only Rocky Boy player to reach double figures, finishing with 18. Adrienne Gopher added seven and Jurnee LaForge finished with six.

"To be honest whenever Naomi shoots I am surprised when she misses" Kraske said. "She just always has her feet set in front of her and it just always looks like a good shot. And Dani she just has such a great rim presence it's really impressive. And she's just so competitive if someone beats her on a play she is going to do everything she can to get it back on the next possession."

Before beating Rocky Boy the Ponies paid a visit to Browning and found a way to win a hard-fought game. Havre found itself trailing at the half 29-27 but thanks to the stellar play of Wagner Terry and Marca Herron who all had 15 points the Ponies fought to the win.

"It was really close and we kind of took control of the game in the last four minutes" Kraske said. "Our defense really stepped up and we were able to get some big stops and then we made some free throws to kind of put it away."

The Havre girls will put their four-game winning streak on the line this Friday and Saturday when they hit the road to face Livingston and Belgrade on consecutive nights.

Havre 63, Rocky Boy 47

Rocky Boy 15 8 10 14 - 47

Havre 15 14 18 16 - 63

Rocky Boy - Sean Henry 3, Dionee Johnson 2, Maya Reed 6, Adrienne Gopher 7, Jurnee LaForge 6, Rosie Parker 18, Jaylynn Mitchell 5.

Havre - Ceyara Plante 9, Dani Wagner 23, Kaylee Nystrom 1, Naomi Terry 19, Danielle Wallace 5, Kristen Nash 6.

No Box Score available for Browning game