Pony girls roll past Rangers, Panthers on the road

Over the past two seasons, the Havre High girls basketball team has dominated the Central A conference, and this past weekend, the Blue Ponies continued that trend.

After starting the conference season 4-0, Havre put its perfect conference record on the line Friday and Saturday in back-to-back road games against Livingston and Belgrade. And when the dust settled, the Ponies came away unscathed, defeating the Rangers Friday 55-38, followed by a 46-28 trouncing of Belgrade Saturday.

With the sweep of their Central A rivals, the Ponies are now on a six-game win streak. They also have an overall record of 8-4 and have extended their perfect record in league play over the last two seasons to 16-0.

“We are coming along nicely,” HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. “We are starting to round it out here a little bit.”

For much of the team's run through the Central A, HHS has won with defense and starting Friday in Livingston, the Ponies put together eight quarters of impressive defensive basketball.

Livingston boasts an athletic team, but much like the first time the Ponies and Rangers met in Havre, Livingston simply didn't have enough firepower to hang with HHS. The Rangers did jump out to a 13-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, but an 18-5 run in the second stanza by the Ponies gave HHS a 26-18 halftime advantage.

Then in the second half, the Ponies did just enough to keep Livingston at bay and, in the end, HHS won comfortably by 17. Dani Wagner had an outstanding night for the Ponies with 22 points while Naomi Terry added 12 and Danielle Wallace pitched in with 11.

“I thought we played two really good quarters down in (Livingston),” Kraske said. “We didn’t finish the game with as much enthusiasm as I would have like but that’s life. I thought overall the kids played decently well.”

With Browning beating both Belgrade and Livingston over the weekend, Havre needed to defeat Belgrade to maintain its lead in the Central A standings and the HHS defense made sure it did just that. The Ponies built a 20-13 halftime lead and then outscored the Panthers 16-9 in the third quarter to go up 36-22.

Havre put the finishing touch on the win with 10 more points in the final stanza, while Belgrade managed just six. The Ponies, who were led by Wagner's 16 points, scored in double figures in each quarter, while the Panthers failed to do so even once.

In addition to the 16 points it got from Wagner, HHS also got 10 points from Terry, eight from Kristen Nash and seven from Marca Herron. Skyla Neubauer was the only Panther to reach double digits with 10 points. Shania Neubauer added nine.

“We are starting to see some other girls like Danielle Wallace and Marca Herron and Kristen Nash start to play well,” Kraske said. “To get that on top of what we have been getting from Dani and Naomi really adds a nice complement. We still have some work that we need to do but I am really pleased with the development of our team as a whole.”

There have been times this season, when the Havre defense hasn't looked as dominant as it has in the past under Kraske, but after holding Livingston and Belgrade to a measly 66 points in two games, it appears the Pony defense is rounding into form just at the right time.

“I think that we are coming on,” Kraske said. “I still think there are things that we can do to get better. We need to do a better job of getting a hand in the face of shooters and other small things like that — but it’s not for a lack of effort. These kids are working very hard and that hard work is starting to pay off for them which is good to see.”

This week, HHS will take a break from conference play as the Ponies get a chance to avenge a pair of early-season losses to Class AA rivals Great Falls High and CMR. Havre will host Great Falls High Thursday at the HHS gymnasium, before traveling to Great Falls Saturday to take on CMR.

Havre 55, Livingston 38

Havre 8 18 14 15 – 55

Livingston 13 5 12 8 - 38

Havre – Dani Wagner 22, Naomi Terry 12, Marca Herron 5, Danielle Wallace 11, Kristen Nash 5.

Havre 46, Belgrade 28

Havre 10 10 16 10 – 46

Belgrade 5 8 9 6 – 28

Havre - Ceyara Plante 0 0-0 0, Ryen Olson 0 0-0 0, RayAn Vanden Bos 0 0-0 0, Dani Wagner 6 4-6 16, Madi Tommerup 0 0-0 0, Kaylee Nystrom 1 0-0 2, Naomi Terry 3 3-5 10, Marca Herron 2 2-3 7, Danielle Wallace 1 0-0 2, Kristen Nash 4 0-0 8, Kyley Verploegen 0 1-2 1. Totals: 17 10-16 46.

Belgrade - Kindall Bethke 0 0-0 0, Shania Neubauer 4 1-6 9, Kiah Hohenstein 2 1-3 5, Alexa Deming 0 0-0 0, Skyla Neubauer 3 3-6 10, Krista Brown 1 0-0 2, Hannah Gee 1 0-0 2, Pipi Eitel 0 0-1 0. Totals: 11 5-16 28.

3-point goals: Hav 2 (Terry 1, Herron 1), Bel 1 (Sk. Neubauer). Fouls: Hav 16, Bel 15. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.