Hot Start: Blue Ponies trample Cowgirls

The last time the Havre High girls played in the Rimrock Auto Arena in Billings, they were winning the 2016 Eastern A consolation game. Wednesday night, the Ponies picked up right where they left off.

In the opening round of the 2017 Eastern A tournament, Havre blasted the Miles City Cowgirls 61-39, pushing the Blue Ponies into a semifinal matchup with Laurel Friday.

Havre entered Wednesday's game as a heavy favorite, but the Cowgirls didn't look like an underdog early on. The first quarter was tight with Havre leading 14-11, and while the Ponies closed the first half strong, with Naomi Terry scoring 12 points in the final nine minutes of the half, the Cowgirls were hanging around at 30-23.

Then came the third quarter. Miles City scored two points in the first minute of the second half, but that was it. Two buckets by Ceyara Plante started the run, while Kyndall Keller and Terry buried threes, the latter of which capped a 19-2 run which gave the Ponies a 49-25 lead with eight minutes to play.

Havre then went into cruise control in the fourth quarter, and while the Ponies were outstanding offensively, with Terry scoring 17, Keller adding 14 and Plante chipping in with 12, it was their defense that made all the difference. Havre, which improved to 14-5, held Miles City to just 1-of-6 shooting in the third quarter, while holding the Cowgirls to just 28 percent shooting for the game. Ashley Venable and Kyra Oakland led the Cowgirls with nine points each.

Now, Havre will get a day off before taking on Laurel Friday afternoon. That game tips at 3:30 p.m. in the Metra, as the Locomotives edged Browning Wednesday afternoon. Havre already owns a win over Laurel, all the way back in December, and if the Ponies can do it again Friday, they'll punch their ticket to yet another Class A state tournament, as well as play for the Eastern A title Saturday night.

"The kids just attacked so well and shot so confidently," HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. "They made the extra pass a couple of times, it was just really nice basketball. They earned this one."

Cowboys corral Ponies in OT

The season came to an end in heartbreaking fashion for the Havre High boys basketball team in a Eastern A play-in game in Billings. And, it will be a season in which the Blue Ponies were much, much better than their record shows.

And nothing indicates that more than the way the Ponies courageously fought Miles City Wednesday afternoon at the Eastern A Divisional in Billings in their 66-59 overtime loss to the Cowboys.

"I'm really proud of the boys today," HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. "They played to the best of their abilities. They never gave up. A couple of little things hurt us down the stretch. But our guys did a great job of battling back. They never went away. They kept on battling and I'm really proud of them for that."

Havre held the ball with a chance to win the game in the final 20 seconds of the fourth quarter, but instead, Miles City's Gabe Gundlach came up with a steal and scored on the other end to put the Cowboys ahead 52-50 with nine seconds left. And yet, Havre never gave up, as Ryan Bakke scored on a layup with just two seconds left to send the game to an extra frame.

In overtime, the Ponies quickly fell behind, but scores by Bobby Personett and Isaac Warp kept HHS in it until Miles City finished off the game by going 8-for-8 from the free-throw-line in the four-minute overtime.

"They (Cowboys) beat us in three categories. Points of course," Leeds said, "but they also shot much better from the foul line, and they had four less turnovers than we did. Those things were big today. But at the same time, our kids fought their tails off, and that's all you can ask of them."

Havre's battle and heart showed early in the contest, too. Gundlach came out on fire, scoring Miles City's first 10 points, and helping the Cowboys build a quick 1-3 advantage. But, threes from Warp and a buzzer-beating shot by Trey Murphy kept the Ponies close at 20-13.

Then, Havre really got going in the second stanza. Warp hit two more threes and Bakke added six points in the quarter, helping HHS go into halftime tied with the Cowboys, the No. 5 seed from the East, at 28-28. And Havre wasn't done fighting either.

Gundlach, who scored 30 points, opened the third quarter with a trey, and Havre fell behind by as many as six points. But Bakke drilled a triple, and Nate Korb scored the last six points of the period, helping the ponies rally to a 41-39 lead after three. In the fourth, a three-point play by Bakke, and a layup by Ivar Aageson pushed Havre to its biggest lead at 45-41, and with two minutes to go a bucket by Murphy gave HHS a 50-48 lead. Miles City would tie the game at 50-50 with a pair of Gundlach free throws, setting up the dramatic finish to regulation.

Warp, in his final game as a Blue Pony, hit four threes and scored 19 points. Bakke finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, while Korb had eight points and Murphy added seven. Foul trouble hurt the Ponies down the stretch, as both Aageson and Murphy fouled out in the fourth quarter.

With the win, Miles City advanced to today's first-round game against Livingston, while the Ponies' season ended Wednesday at the Metra. Havre finished the season 3-16.

"We didn't win a lot of games this season," Leeds said. "But the thing I'm most proud of is these kids never put their heads down. They never, ever quit on us. They worked their butts off all season long and they fought hard every game. They competed, from beginning to end this season, and I'm extremely proud of them for that."

Havre 61, Miles City 39

Havre 14 16 19 12 - 61

Miles City 12 11 2 14 - 39

Havre: Ceyara Plante 12, RayAn VandenBos 2, Kyndell Keller 14, Kaylee Nystrom 5, Naomi Terry 17, Marca Herron 5, Danielle Wallace 6.

Miles City: Bailee Murnion 7, Makenna Helmts 3, Jenna Swope 2, Ashley Venable 9, Kyra Oakland 9, McKenzie Taylor 2, Madison Rask 1, Kaelei Koenig 6.

Miles City 66, Havre 59 OT

Miles City 20 8 11 13 14 - 66

Havre 13 15 13 11 7 - 59

Miles City: Clay Prell 2, Gabe Gundlach 30, Kaden Stradley 6, Steven Ray 12, Kelly Irion 4, Tyler Burk 11, Cameron Muri 1.

Havre: Nate Korb 8, Jacob LaBrie 4, Isaac Warp 19, Bobby Personett 5, Ryan Bakke 13, Ivar Aageson 3, Trey Murphy 7.