HHS girls begin Central A play at home

Over the years, the Havre High girls basketball team has dominated the Central A Conference. And even though the league has a slightly new look this season, the Blue Ponies are out to prove they are still the team to beat.

One way they can do that is by holding serve at home against conference opponents, which they will get two chances to do this weekend, starting tonight against Livingston. The two teams will play at approximately 7:30 p.m., followed by a game Saturday against Belgrade, another Central A foe. Tip-off in that comes at 4:30 p.m.

"Both of these games are going to be huge," HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. "Livingston and Belgrade are both going to be big games. They are both playing well and coming to our place."

The biggest difference between this season and a year ago in the Central A is the loss of Browning from the conference. The Indians are now part of the Northwest A, which trimmed the Central A down from five teams to four. In basketball, that means there are now just six conference games instead of eight to determine seeding for the Eastern A Divisional Tournament.

"I think that we really try to stress with the kids how important these games are," Kraske said, "so I think they understand. But it's something that we do try to talk to them about."

Havre's first conference home game comes tonight against a Livingston team that comes in with a 1-1 record, following a loss to Townsend and a win over Miles City last weekend. The Rangers do return a number of players with experience and those include some of their top scorers from the first two games in Danielle Babcox, Slyvie Schoenen and Kodia Vondra. Babcox is averaging 14.5 points per game, while Schoenen and Vondra are averaging 11 and 10 points respectively.

"They got off to a good start," Kraske said. "They beat Miles City and they are playing well right now."

The Rangers got off to a good start by splitting games in their first weekend of play, but Belgrade started even better, winning its two games against Manhattan and Miles City handily, by an average of 21 points.

Like Havre, the Panthers are coming off a trip to the Class A state semifinals and with some key players back from last season, Belgrade has state tournament aspirations again this season.

The Panthers are a deep and athletic team, but so far this season, they have been led by Kiah Hohenstein, who is averaging 21 points per game, along with Gabby Weber, who is scoring 15 points a game. In addition to its marquee players, Belgrade also had solid depth with Bailey Christensen, Hannah Gee, Ashley Sendon and Maya Reed, who played at Havre when she was a freshman.

"Belgrade is also off to a really good start," Kraske said. "They are a good team. They are athletic and they have a good group of players."

While Belgrade and Livingston both have multiple players scoring in double figures, the Ponies have just one in All-State sophomore Kyndall Keller, who is scoring 17.5 points per game. Yet, the impressive thing about HHS is that it has nine players who are averaging at least five points. Senior Danielle Wallace is second on the team in scoring (7.5 ppg), followed closely by senior guards Marca Herron and Ryen Olson, who each average seven points per game, followed by Kyley Verploegen and Kadia Miller at six and 5.5 points. And lastly, Kaylee Nystrom, Katie Wirtzberger and Kylie Walker all average five a game.

However, the most impressive stat registered by the Havre girls this season is the measly 26.5 points per game the Ponies are allowing to opponents. The offense is also scoring 63 points a game, meaning Belgrade and Livingston will have plenty to worry about on both ends of the floor. But for Kraske, winning doesn't mean doing anything fancy, to him it's all about the basics.

"It's all about the fundamental things, shooting, passing, catching the basketball," Kraske said. "We need to sit down and defend. We need to take care of the basketball, talk to each other defensively, get a little better on-ball pressure. We just need to come out and play our style of basketball."

Havre will take on Livingston tonight at 7:30, followed by a game against Belgrade Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Both games will be played inside the HHS gymnasium.