Pony girls celebrate senior night against Rocky Boy

For the Havre High girls basketball team, just two weeks remain in the regular season. Yet just because there are games left on the slate, doesn’t mean there is much for the Blue Ponies to achieve.

In practical terms, Havre can only improve its record. The Ponies have already wrapped up the top seed from the Central A in the Eastern A Divisional tournament and won’t gain much from beating Rocky Boy inside the HHS gymnasium Saturday. However, since it happens to be senior night, when the ball goes up at 5 p.m., you can bet Havre will be ready.

“The best thing that we can do for our seniors,” HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. “Is keep pushing ourselves and putting ourselves in the best position possible to do well at divisionals.”

Havre, which is 11-5 overall and 7-0 in conference play, will say goodbye to a senior class that includes Naomi Terry, Ceyara Plante, Kristen Nash and RayAn VandenBos, who will each play in front of the Pony faithful one last time.

“It has been a really great class,” Kraske said. “All four of them have played roles and have helped us enjoy a lot of team success over the past four years.”

Terry, who has been a member of the varsity team since her freshman season, has been a three-year starter for the Ponies and has twice earned All-Conference honors, being named Second Team as a sophomore and First Team as a junior. Last year, she earned All-State honors and is on her way again as she currently ranks ninth in the state with a scoring average of 14 points a game. Plante and Nash have also seen varsity minutes since their sophomore seasons, while VandenBos has seen minutes since her junior year. All four players, according to Kraske, have been vital to the team’s success this season.

“RayAn has given us some really solid minutes,” Kraske said. “She knows her role, she plays incredibly hard, she rebounds, she defends, offensively she is a great screener, she is just an all-around great kid. Nash has also had a nice career. She has had two years heavily involved with the varsity. Last year, she had a great junior year and this year, she is really coming on strong. She too has bought into her role of coming in and playing hard. I have been pleased with her effort and have enjoyed coaching her a lot.

“Ceyara Plante,” he added. “This is her second year really playing quality minutes. She is a great kid and really has had a wonderful senior year. She has worked hard to get her skills where they are. She has had some great games shooting, but to be honest, I am even more impressed with the way she defends and rebounds. She is doing that better than she ever has before. She is a treat to coach. And you know Naomi, she has started for us the last three years and run the point. It’s hard to put into words the quality of job that she has done. Her freshman year, she was able to sit on the bench and watch those seniors (win state). She was the last member of that state championship team and she has had a nice senior year. Her leadership skills have grown over the season, and it’s hard to say too much about her. We ask her to do a lot, and I could have done a better job of enjoying watching her play because I just sort of expect her to be great all the time and she does that. She has lived up to those expectations.”

But while the Ponies are hoping to honor their seniors Saturday, Havre also looks at the game against Rocky Boy as a chance to try and get better.

“There are always things you can do better,” Kraske said. “Every time we take the floor in practice or in a game, we are trying to improve.”

In the first meeting between the two teams in Rocky Boy back on Jan. 14, Havre cruised to a 61-29 victory. HHS knocked down eight 3-pointers in the win and got 17 points from Terry, along with Marca Herron, who had 12, Plante who had 11 and freshman Kyndall Keller, who had 10.

Terry has been Havre’s most consistent scorer this season, but Keller hasn’t been far behind. She currently ranks 13th in Class A with an average of 12.27 points a night. She is also the top scoring freshman in all of Class A girls basketball. Plante and Wallace both average more than six points a game, while Herron averages just a touch more than five.

Getting a win will be important for Havre, as it tries to snap four-game non-conference losing streak. In all, HHS has lost four of five games since starting 10-1. However, Rocky Boy will come in with a similar mindset as the 10-7 Stars have lost five straight games. In those five losses, four of the games have been decided by 19 points or more, so Rocky Boy is in desperate need of some positive momentum.

The Morning Stars will be looking for a slew of players to step up and lead the effort against the Ponies. One of those will be Maya Reed, along with Adrienne Gopher, Jaylynn Mitchell and Sean Henry. However, against a motivated Havre team that is looking to finish strong, it may not matter.

“You want to be playing well at the end of the season,” Kraske said. “So we are trying to focus on playing the best basketball game we can with divisionals just a couple of weeks away.”

Havre and Rocky Boy will tip things off Saturday at 5 p.m., inside the HHS gymnasium.