HHS girls clobber Fairfield

The Havre High girls basketball got one of its more difficult tests when it played Fairfield during the first week of January. Yet Friday night inside the HHS gymnasium, the Blue Ponies made quick work of the Eagles.

Fairfield, the defending Class B state champions, were hoping to put up another fight against the Ponies, but this time around, Havre would have none of it. The Ponies outscored the Eagles by 16 points in the first quarter and led by 40 or more multiple times in a 56-19 win. HHS is now 14-0 on the season.

"Our kids came out and they were ready to go," HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. "Every, single kid seemed ready. And Fairfield is a solid program. They are down a little bit, but they are a good team, they are well-coached, but we were just ready to go right from the start on both ends of the floor."

The Ponies were ready to go, especially on the defensive end. Utilizing a full-court press that has wreaked havoc on opponents all season long, Havre put a ton of pressure on the Eagles early in the game, and it was clear they couldn't handle it. HHS roared out of the gates and following two steals and two easy layups by Marca Herron, the Ponies were up 14-2 midway through the first quarter.

Kyndall Keller then got things going for the Ponies, as she scored six consecutive points to put Havre up by 15 points. In the final minute of the opening stanza, Ryen Olson provided the exclamation point on a stellar quarter, knocking down a 3-pointer, to give Havre a 24-8 advantage after eight minutes.

In the second quarter, the Ponies showed no signs of letting up. A bucket by Danielle Wallace put Havre in front by 20. A few minutes later, Wallace dished to Kyley Verploegen, who scored to make it 34-10. Before the half was over, freshman Kylie Walker drilled a trey and that helped HHS take a 39-12 lead into intermission.

The Ponies closed the second quarter on a 5-0 run, but picked up right where they left off in the third quarter, scoring the first 13 points to build a 52-12 advantage. That run included a couple more buckets from Wallace and a 3-pointer from Herron, which helped put the mercy rule into effect.

The score was 52-15 heading into the fourth quarter, when Walker, knocked down her second triple of the game, putting Havre in front 55-15. With the clock running, the fourth quarter went quickly and the Ponies went on to win by 37 points over its Class B rival.

Keller was the top scorer in the game and led Havre with 16 points. Herron had a solid outing with 10 and was joined in double figures by Wallace, who also finished with 10 points. Walker finished with six and Kaylee Nystrom had five.

"I thought it was a really great team effort," Kraske said. "I thought that all of our kids worked really hard defensively and I was pleased with that. Of course, as a coach, you are going to be a little nitpicky and I would like to see our communication be a little bit better, but the kids came out and they were just on it right away. That was really good to see."

After beating Fairfield, the Ponies were supposed to wrap up their Central A conference schedule Saturday in Lewistown. Yet due to bad weather and poor road conditions, the trip was canceled. The game will be rescheduled and played at a later date.

Havre will have a challenging week ahead of itself, as the Ponies will host Browning inside the HHS gymnasium Friday, before traveling to Rocky Boy to take on the Morning Stars Saturday. Havre and Browning will tip-off at 7 p.m. Friday night. The Ponies and Rocky Boy will play at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Havre 56, Fairfield 19

Fairfield 8 4 3 4 - 19

Havre 24 15 13 4 - 56

Fairfield: Wipf 2, Clotfelter 5, Pitcher 8, Rosenbaum 1, Simmons 1, Harris 2.

Havre: Ryen Olson 3, Kyndall Keller 16, Kylie Walker 6, Kaylee Nystrom 5, Kadia Miller 3, Marca Herron 10, Danielle Wallace 10, Loy Waid 1, Kyley Verploegen 2.