Pony girls start league play perfectly

After starting the season with two road wins, the Havre High girls basketball team looked to add two more and after two solid performances, that’s exactly what the Blue Ponies did.

In the process, thanks to wins over Central A opponents, Belgrade and Livingston, Havre put itself in a strong position in the conference race after knocking off the Panthers 57-38 Friday and Livingston 58-16 Saturday.

“I was really pleased with the way we played,” HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. “I thought that we did a great job defensively. We played hard in both games and overall, I was really pleased.”

In the opening game against Belgrade Friday, Havre was tied with the Panthers 11-11 at the end of the first quarter, but a 14-2 spurt in the second quarter, put the Ponies in command with a 25-13 lead at intermission.

Belgrade did stay within striking distance, thanks to a solid third quarter, but a 20-point fourth quarter for Havre ended any hopes of a Panther win. HHS got another stellar showing from Naomi Terry, who scored a game-high 19 points in the win. Ceyara Plante also contributed with 12, while Danielle Wallace had eight.

“Danielle did a really nice job for us,” Kraske said. “We have been trying to get more scoring inside, and we have been able to do that.”

Krista Brown scored a team-high 10 points to lead the way for the Panthers. Shania Neibauer had eight and Bailey Christensen and Hannah Gee each had five.

“I was impressed with Belgrade,” Kraske said. “I know that we ended up winning by 19 points, but the game was actually a lot closer than that. I never thought that we were going to lose, but they played us tough.”

Saturday, against a young Livingston team, the Ponies would have no such problems. HHS outscored the Rangers 21-6, thanks to four 3-pointers in the opening stanza, two from Marca Herron, one from Terry and another from Kyndall Keller. Terry added eight more points in the second quarter and six in the third as she scored 21 points in Havre’s 42-point victory. Keller also managed to reach double figures for the Ponies with 11 points, while Herron had nine and Wallace finished with six.

“The great thing is that our team is really so unselfish,” Kraske said. “They do a really great job of sharing the ball and looking for a good shot. They did a good job of that Saturday. Marca had a nice day so that was good and Kyndall, she is finding her role and Kaylee Nystrom is out there hustling and giving it her all. It was fun (and) neat to see them play that way.”

The win was the fourth straight to open the season for Havre, with all of them coming on the road. The Ponies will be on the road again this week at Great Falls High.

“It’s just kind of how it worked out,” Kraske said of all the road games early in the season. “But it will be nice because we will have a lot of home games after the break. We are excited to go down and play a good Class AA team in Great Falls High.”

Havre and Great Falls High will play Thursday night in Great Falls and the Swarthout Fieldhouse. The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

Havre 57, Belgrade 38

Havre 11 14 12 20 - 57

Belgrade 11 2 14 11 - 38

Havre: Ceyara Plante 12, Kyndell Keller 7, Kaylee Nystrom 3, Naomi Terry 19, Marca Herron 3, Danielle Wallace 8, Kyley Verploegen 2.

Belgrade: Alexa Deming 3, Shania Neubauer 8, Kiah Hohenstein 2, Bailey Christensen 5, Gabby Weber 4, Krista Brown 10, Hannah Gee 5, Pipi Eitel 1.

Havre 58, Livingston 16

Havre 21 22 12 3 - 58

Livingston 6 4 4 2 - 16

Havre - Rien Olson 1, RayAn VandenBos 2, Kyndall Keller 11, Kaylee Nystrom 4, Naomi Terry 21, Marca Herron 9, Danielle Wallace 6.

Livingston - Kendyl Pierson 7, Claree Tecca 7, Danielle Barcoux 2.