Wildkats slip by Blue Ponies in opener

The Havre High girls basketball team is in the midst of its ninth trip to the Class A state tournament in the last 10 seasons. But, this Blue Pony team doesn’t quite have the experience at the state tourney level as others have.

And Havre ran into a squad in the opening round of the 2016 state tournament that has plenty of experience playing on the state’s biggest stage. And that team, the Columbia Falls Wildkats, were able to pull away from the Ponies 64-52 Thursday afternoon at the Belgrade Events Center.

The loss dropped Havre (14-9) into today’s loser-out game against Frenchtown, which feel short against Browning in the first game of the day.

“I thought we did a great job early,” said Havre head coach Dustin Kraske. “But, they (Wildkats) made a big run on us in the last two minutes of the first half, and pretty much the whole third quarter, we didn’t play very well at all. And that was pretty much the difference.”

Havre did get off to a great start, with two early 3-pointers by sophomore Marca Herron. And when Naomi Terry buried a deep three with 3:44 left in the second period, the Ponies found themselves leading the heavily favored Wildkats, 21-15.

It didn’t last however, and what ensued was a 14-0 Columbia Falls run to finish the half, with the Wildkats on top 38-21. Ellie Johnson, who scored a game-high 22 points, was the spark for the Wildkats, who would go on to hold Havre scoreless for nearly the first five minutes of the second period, as the run stretched to 21-0 before Havre finally got back on the board.

“Credit to Columbia Falls,” Kraske said. “We knew they could shoot the ball well, and they did just that. And when they got going, I thought we panicked a little bit and didn’t play as well as we could have defensively. It felt like they were just getting too many easy baskets during that stretch.”

As good as the Wildkats looked in the second and third quarters, there was still no quit in the Blue Ponies, and thanks to a stifling full-court press, and 12 points from senior Dani Wagner in less than four minutes, Havre cut the Columbia Falls’ lead all the way down to 58-51. Terry also scored 10 points in the same time frame, but, that’s as close as the Ponies would get as Peyton Kehr scored back-to-back buckets to put the Wildkats up by double digits for good.

“I was proud of the way the kids battled back,” Kraske said. “They did a great job. I think we got it down to seven at one point. So it was nice to see our kids hang in there like that.”

While Johnson led all scorers in helping the Wildkats (20-2) advance to tonight’s semifinal against Browning, the Ponies got 19 points from Wagner and four threes and 14 points by Terry. Herron and Danielle Wallace also pitched in with a combined 13 points.

Now the Ponies will look to regroup when they take on Frenchtown (14-9) this afternoon, with both teams looking to extend their season. The Broncs are a young team led by the scoring of Alivia Williams and Megan Delaney.

“I haven’t seen a whole lot of them, but I know Frenchtown is a good basketball team,” Kraske said. “They will zone us and they will make us make shots.

“But I have a lot of confidence in our kids,” he continued. “We’re playing well right now, and I know we’re going to come back tomorrow and play good basketball.”

The winner of today’s game between Havre and Frenchtown will advance to Saturday morning to play either Butte Central or Dillon, the two other semifinalists. Today’s first loser-out game pits Billlings Central against Lewistown. The Class A state tourney continues through Saturday night’s championship game at the Belgrade Special Events Center.

Columbia Falls 64, Havre 52

Havre 8 13 3 28 – 52

Columbia Falls 9 20 10 25 – 64

HAVRE (14-9) – Ceyara Plante 0 0-0 0, Ryen Olson 1 0-0 3, Dani Wagner 7 5-8 19, Kaylee Nystrom 0 0-0 0, Naomi Terry 4 3-4 14, Marca Herron 2 1-2 7, Danielle Wallace 3 0-0 6, Kristen Nash 1 1-4 3, Kyley Verploegen 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 10-18 52.

COLUMBIA FALLS (20-2) – Sydney Grilley 1 4-8 6, Cydney Finberg 2 1-2 6, Ellie Johnson 8 1-2 22, Peyton Kehr 5 5-8 15, Miranda Livingston 1 0-0 2, Kiara Burlage 3 2-2 9, Allyson Gimble 0 0-0 0, Sydnety Hovde 1 2-3 4. Totals: 21 15-25 64.

3-point goals: Hav 6 (Terry 3, Herron 2, Olson 1), CF 7 (Johnson 5, Finberg 1, Burlage 1). Fouls: Hav 19, CF 17. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.