2016-17 Havre High Basketball Previews: Pony girls ready to be a force yet again

For years, the Havre High girls basketball team has been among the best in Class A. And this season, with the return of a deep and experienced roster, the Blue Ponies should have a chance to stay near the top.

The Ponies, who finished third at the Eastern A Divisional last season, and won a game at the Class A state tournament, have actually made nine appearances at state in 10 years under head coach Dustin Kraske.

And so far, Kraske likes what he is seeing from the 2016-17 version of his squad.

“I think we are looking really good in practice,” Kraske said. “I think that the kids have been playing at a pretty high level, but you never really know until you get into games. So we are hoping to see the things that we are seeing in practice, translate over to the games.”

Havre graduated just one senior from last year’s team, but it was an important one in Dani Wagner, a two-time All-State performer, who averaged 18.2 points per game last season. But beyond that, Kraske returns four starters, highlighted by Naomi Terry, who was ninth in Class A in scoring last season (12.9 PPG), as well as Marca Herron, Ceyara Plante and Kristen Nash.

Danielle Wallace, who was a key reserve last season, is also back, as is Kaylee Nystrom. The other players on the varsity roster for Havre will be RayAn VandenBos, Kyley Verploegen and Kyndall Keller.

“I like the depth that we have on our team,” Kraske said. “We have a lot of juniors and seniors coming back, and I think that all of those kids should be better than they were last year. I have to give them a ton of credit. They have worked really hard in the offseason and in the summer, and I think that’s going to pay off for them.”

A big part of Havre’s offense last season came from deep as the Ponies ranked second in the entire Eastern A Division with 88 3-point field goals, 35 of which were made by Terry, who connected on 32 percent of her shots from deep. Kraske said that he is expecting big things this season from Terry, who is already committed to play college basketball at Montana State University-Northern, but he also said that doesn’t necessarily mean her scoring more points.

“Sure, it would be nice if Naomi scored a few more points a game for us,” Kraske said. “But I am looking for her to take on more of a leadership role and really be the leader of our team. I think that will help us a lot more than her scoring a few more points a game.”

The longtime head coach also said his team will be looking to score more inside this season and that starts with Nash, Wallace and Verploegen, who combined to average just over 10 points a game last season.

“We are really trying to get more production inside,” Kraske said. “So we are really putting some pressure on Kristen Nash and Danielle Wallace and Kyley Verploegen to do more scoring inside.”

On the perimeter, the Ponies will look for more scoring from Herron, a junior who averaged, 5.01 points per game and senior Ceyara Plante, who averaged 3.6. He also said he expects more of an offensive impact from Nystrom as well, who made just a handful of field goals last season.

“I think between those three, we could average between 20 and 30 points a game,” Kraske said. “Ceyara has really worked hard on her game, so has Marca and Kaylee has, too, especially offensively.”

When it comes to its competition this year, Havre should be one of the favorites again in the Central A, but Browning figures to have a say in things and Lewistown, Livingston and Belgrade will all be looking to improve from last season.

Yet, beyond those conference games, Havre will face a grueling non-league schedule. The Ponies will not only play Malta, the defending class B state champion twice, once in Havre (Jan. 28) and once in Malta (Feb. 7). but HHS also plays Fairfield, the Class B runner-up, in a home-and-home. The two teams will play in Havre Jan. 6, followed by a matchup in Fairfield Feb. 3.

Havre will also play both Great Falls High and CMR once, while also playing Rocky Boy twice. The Ponies have games against Eastern-A opponents, in what are technically non-conference games. Havre will play Sidney Friday night at 6 p.m The Ponies will then play Laurel, in Sidney, Saturday at 10 a.m.

“I think our schedule is going to be challenging again,” Kraske said. “But that’s a good thing. You want to play good teams so you can get better and that’s what we are looking to do.”

Havre will delve into conference play for the first time Dec. 16-17 in back-to-back road games against Belgrade and Livingston. The Ponies will travel to Lewistown Jan. 7, but will then have four straight at home against conference opponents with games against Browning (Jan. 13), Belgrade (Jan. 20), Livingston (Jan. 21) and Lewistown (Feb. 4). Havre will finish its regular season on the road against Browning Feb. 11

The Eastern A Divisional will take place Feb. 22-24 in Billings at the Metra and the Class A state tournament, will be March 2-4 in Butte.