Talented Bison hold off HHS girls in the corral

There are times when, no matter how hard you fight, no matter much you don't give up, there are just some holes which are too big to dig your way out of.

And that was the story for the Havre High girls basketball team Thursday night inside the HHS gymnasium. The Blue Ponies fell behind Class AA rival Great Falls High 20-2 after one quarter, and though HHS gave a valiant effort from there, it wasn't enough as the Bison left Havre with a 53-33 win.

"They (Bison) did a nice job of jumping out on us really quickly," said HHS head coach Dustin Kraske. "And we didn't respond to it very well. We, as coaches have to do a better job of getting our kids to handle those situations.

"From that point however, I thought our kids showed a lot of fight," he continued. "We showed a lot more aggressiveness offensively, and overall, we played much better."

The Ponies would rally, and rally well, and they certainly needed too after Nora Klick sparked a 13-0 run to start the game, while Havre went the entire first quarter without a field goal, while also committing eight turnovers. As a result, the Bison led 20-2.

"They (Bison) really attacked us with their pressure," Kraske said. "And we panicked a little bit. We have to work on that, we have to work on handling that type of pressure in these big games."

Dani Wagner opened the second stanza with Havre's first field goal, and Danielle Wallace added a three-point play, but a Morgan Evans 3-pointer put the Bison up 29-7 midway through the second stanza, and they would take a commanding 33-13 lead into the break.

However, Havre had seemed to build some momentum in the second stanza, and thanks to a great defensive effort, the Ponies closed the game in the third. Marca Herron drilled a triple early in the stanza, and she later added a putback bucket to get the Ponies within 10 points. On the other end, Havre stymied the Bison, holding them scoreless for the first five minutes of the half, and to just one field goal the entire quarter.

But, as close as Havre got in the third, Klick would put the comeback attempt to rest as she knocked in two threes in the first four minutes of the fourth period, putting GFH back up by 20 points, and while Havre continued to fight, the Ponies were just too far behind with not enough time.

"Hats off to our kids for their effort," Kraske said. "I thought we did a nice job of taking away their penetration, and not giving them too many good looks. I thought, overall, we did a nice job defensively in the second half."

The Ponies did do a solid job, outscoring 24-20 in the final 16 minutes. Wagner would finish with a team-high 17 points, including making 8-of-11 free throws, while Herron chipped in with seven. But, it wasn't enough to avoid the season sweep against the Bison, who got 19 points and nine rebounds from Klick and another 10 points from Gabby Fought. GFH also improved to a sparkling 11-1 on the season.

Now, the Ponies (9-4) will look to regroup, and go for a season sweep of another AA rival, when they travel to Great Falls to meet the CMR Rustlers on Saturday.

"There are some little things we need to correct right now," Kraske said. "And we will do that and get ready to go play at CMR."

Great Falls High 53, Havre 33

GFH 20 13 7 13 - 53

Havre 2 11 13 7 - 33

Great Falls: Morgan Evans 9, Hannah Collins 2, Gabby Fought 10, Nora Klick 19, Lyndee Feisthamel 2, Molly Schmidt 2, Sarah Dutro 4, Danielle Devlin 1, Emma Madson 6.

Havre: Dani Wagner 17, Naomi Terry 4, Marce Herron 7, Danielle Wallace 3, Kristan Nash 2.