HHS girls fend off Rangers, Panthers

If the Havre High girls basketball team was going to keep its stranglehold of the Central A intact, it was going to have to win on the road without its leading scorer. And while it wasn't always easy, that's exactly what the Blue Ponies did this past weekend.

Without Kyndall Keller, the Havre girls didn't skip a beat. The Blue Ponies downed Livingston 47-36 Friday night and then beat Belgrade on the road, 59-46 Saturday. Havre is now 12-0 on the season and 5-0 in the Central A.

Havre is virtually guaranteed of being the top seed in the Central A at the divisional tournament as well. Lewistown could still tie Havre at 5-1 if the Eagles win out. However, since Havre won the game by 54, it's not likely Lewistown could beat Havre by enough points in a head-to-head matchup to win the tiebreaker and grab the top seed.

"We were really pleased with how the kids played," HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. "And we won the league, so we were very happy."

Havre defeated Livingston by 39 points when the two teams met in Havre, but this time around, it would be much closer. Havre led 11-8 at the end of the first quarter and was up just 25-21 at halftime. Yet in the second half, Havre finally started to pull away. The Ponies pushed their lead to nine points by the end of the third quarter and then held Livingston to just five points in the fourth quarter to win by 11.

Senior Kaylee Nystrom scored a game-high 14 points to lead the way for Havre. Fellow senior Ryen Olson also reached double figures with 11. Danielle Wallace added six. Larissa Saarel led the Rangers with six.

"Kaylee had a really strong game," Kraske said. "She had about 10 rebounds and was just all over the place. Marca had a really nice game, too."

After beating Livingston, Havre went for a season sweep of Belgrade Saturday. Belgrade built a 9-8 advantage at the end of the first quarter. At halftime, the Ponies were down 22-21, but early in the third quarter, Kadia Miller scored a bucket to tie it up at 25-25. Freshman Kylie Walker hit a 3-pointer to give Havre a 29-27 lead and Havre wouldn't trail again.

"Kylie didn't score a ton of points," Kraske said. "But she made some really nice plays and hit a pretty big shot for us against Belgrade. Then we really just got after it defensively there in the second half."

Havre led 36-33 at the start of the third quarter, but two hoops inside from Wallace but HHS in front by eight. Maya Reed hit a 3-pointer to get Belgrade within five points, but the Ponies salted away with the win at the free throw line and went to take the game by 13.

Miller led the way for the Ponies with 15 points. Wallace pitched in with 12 and Marca Herron had 11. Olson also had another solid game with 10. Gabby Weber led Belgrade with eight. Reed had seven along with Kiah Hohenstein.

"I thought Wallace had a really nice game," Kraske said. "I just thought our kids played really, really well down the stretch. Kadia Miller had a tough game Friday and she came back and played really well, especially defensively. It was just a really good effort all around."

Havre will travel to CMR Friday, before returning home Saturday to take on Malta.

Havre 47, Livingston 36

Havre 11 14 15 7 - 47

Livingston 8 13 11 5 - 36

Havre: Ryen Olson 11, Kylie Walker 2, Kaylee Nystrom 14, Kadia Miller 4, Merca Herron 4, Katie Wirtzberger 4, Danielle Wallace 6, Kyley Verploegen 2.

Livingston: Katerine Kant 3, Larissa Saarel 6, Sylvie Schoenan 5, Kadie Vondra 4, Abby Kokot 5, Danielle Babcox 4.

Havre 59, Belgrade 46

Havre 12 15 23 - 59

Belgrade 14 11 13 - 46

HAVRE (12-0) - Ryen Olson 2 5-10 10, Kylie Walker 1 0-0 3, Kassidy Compton 1 0-0 2, Kaylee Nystrom 2 2-2 6, Kadia Miller 2 11-16 15, Marca Herron 2 5-12 11, Danielle Wallace 5 2-7 12, Kyley Verploegen 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 25-47 59.

BELGRADE (5-6) - Alexa Deming 1 1-2 3, Kiah Hohenstein 1 4-5 7, Maya Reed 3 0-0 7, Ashley Sendon 1 0-0 2, Gabby Weber 3 2-3 8, Bailey Christensen 2 2-2 6, Meghan McGinley 1 0-0 2, Hanna Gee 3 4-6 11, McKenna Carlson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 13-18 46.