HHS girls go east to open the season

Like many teams across the state, the Havre High girls basketball team will open its season this weekend. But for the Blue Ponies, both the opponent and the location will be different than what they’re used to.

For the past few years, the Ponies have played Malta to start the season, either in Havre or Malta. But this year, Havre will play its first two games in Sidney, where the Ponies will play Sidney, the host team of the girls Central/Eastern A Tip-off Tournament, tonight at 6. Havre will then turn around and play Laurel at 10 a.m.

“I think it’s great that we have this,” HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said of the tip-off tournament. “I am not exactly thrilled about having to drive all the way to Sidney. But I haven’t been there in about 20 years, so that should be fun, and we will get to play some good basketball teams and get a look at the other teams in our league, so I think it’s great we are doing this.”

Last year, in the first year of the Eastern A Divisional format, the Ponies took third at the divisional tournament. But one complaint of coaches was that it was hard to know much about the opponents from the other conference because Central A teams didn’t get many chances to play Eastern A teams. Havre didn’t play any until divisionals last season, but thanks to the tip-off tournament, that will no longer be an issue.

“I just think it’s good that you get to know who you are playing a little bit,” Kraske said. “You can at least put a face to the name and the number on a jersey.”

While the tournament will no doubt offer a great chance for scouting, the main mission of the Ponies this weekend is to win two basketball games, starting with tonight’s contest against Sidney. The Eagles, who were 3-16 overall last season and 0-10 in the Eastern A, had just one senior on last year’s team and, according to Kraske, should be much improved.

“They really struggled to score last season,” Kraske said. “I heard that they have had a lot of different coaches, like 12 in 12 years or something like that. But this year, they will have the same coach back, so I would expect them to be a lot better. They were really young last year and brought a lot of kids back, so I think they will be much more competitive.”

Sidney, which averaged just 36 points a game last season, brings back four seniors from last year’s team in Logan Peterson, Madison Thiessen, Madison DiFonzo and Bree Fischer. Peterson led the Eagles in scoring.

The Ponies’ other opponent, Laurel, didn’t have that same issue a year ago. The Locomotives, who lost to Havre in the opening round at divisionals, boasted Abbie Lohof, who averaged 16.4 points a game. She is gone, but a number of other experienced players return such as McKenna Goettlich, Dakota Boehler, Rylee Clark, Aspen Cotter, Paige O’Toole, Ellie Killdahl and Carly McGrath. Cotter, a sophomore is the top scorer back for Laurel with an average of 7.7, while Clark is the next best at 5.9.

“I like how Laurel plays,” Kraske said. “They shoot the ball well and they were just a scrappy group. So that will be a tough game for us.”

Leading the way for Havre will be Naomi Terry, who was an All-State player for the Ponies a season ago after averaging 12.9 points per game. Terry, a senior, leads an experienced team that brings back three other key players in Marca Herron, Ceyara Plante and Kristen Nash. Other key players for Havre who will see time on the floor in Sidney include Danielle Wallace, RaYan VandenBos, Kyley Verploegen and Kyndall Keller.

“I am excited to see this team play,” Kraske said. “We have been working really hard in practice and we have been doing some really good things. But we will see if we can do that against other teams and make those things translate over.”

Havre opens its 2016-17 season tonight against Sidney at 6. HHS will then play Laurel Saturday at 10 a.m.