Pony girls visit Lewistown, Rocky Boy

They say that beating the same team twice in the same season is never easy and that’s a challenge that the Havre High girls basketball will face twice this weekend.

The Blue Ponies, who are now 9-6 overall and 6-0 in the Central A conference, will battle not just one, but two teams they defeated earlier in the season with back-to-back road games against Lewistown and Rocky Boy. Havre and Lewistown will tip-off tonight at 7. After that HHS will take on the Morning Stars Saturday in Rocky Boy at 5 p.m.

“I think it’s kind of exciting,” HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. “I think going on the road always make it a little more challenging, so we are looking forward to that challenge.”

In the first of the two games, the Ponies will take on Lewistown, a team they beat earlier in the season at the HHS gymnasium. However, the Lewistown team that the Ponies will see tonight will be much different than the one they saw earlier in the season, thanks to the return of Jaree Mane.

Mane led the Eagles in both points and rebounds last season and was set to be one of the best returning players in the Central A before an injury sidelined her for much of the season. Yet, she will be back for tonight’s game, which makes beating the Eagles a much different dynamic for HHS.

“She’s a very good player,” Kraske said. “She is really athletic and from what I have seen so far, she has played pretty well since she’s been back. It’s always a challenge to beat Lewistown on the road and that will make it even tougher.”

In Mane’s absence, the Eagles have struggled mightily, going 4-11 overall and 1-4 in the Central A so far this season. The Ponies, on the other hand, have dominated the Central A again this season and no matter what happens tonight, they will be in a strong position to clinch the Central A regular-season title and a top seed at the Eastern A Divisional.

“I suppose that if we beat them and (Lewistown) beats Browning, we would win the league,” Kraske said. “But outside of that happening, it will come down to the last game between us and Browning.”

Kraske is correct on that point, yet the Ponies would be in a much better position to win the Central A with a win over the Eagles. That’s because if Havre loses to Lewistown, it would need to beat Browning to clinch the Central A. However, with a win over Lewistown, all the Ponies would need to do against Browning is not lose by more than five points.

“We were in that situation a couple years ago,” Kraske said. “But basically at this point, we know that we need to get one of these two games.”

If Havre is going to find a way to win on the road, it will need to get great performances from both Dani Wagner and Naomi Terry. Wagner is currently third in Class A in scoring with an average of 17.67 points per game, while Terry is eighth in the state with 12.73.

After the Ponies go head-to-head with their conference rival, they will pay a visit to Rocky in another rivalry game. In the first meeting between the two teams, the Ponies dominated and won easily 63-47.

Havre got monster games from both Wagner and Terry, who scored 23 and 19 points respectively, to combine for 42. The other key factor was the Pony defense, which held the Morning Stars to just 47 points and has been improving steadily as the season has gone on.

Yet, Rocky Boy has a lot of fight left in it and the Morning Stars, who will be led by a number of contributors such as Rosie Parker, Maya Reed, Jurnee LaForge and Adrienne Gopher.

“I am sure that they will play hard and give us a much tougher game than when we played them up here,” Kraske said. “So that will be a challenge. Winning on the road is always difficult, so hopefully that brings out the best in us.”

The Ponies will take on the Eagles tonight at 7 in Lewistown, and Saturday they will play Rocky Boy in Rocky Boy at 5 p.m.