Ponies crush Browning on senior night

The emotions of senior night can sometimes go either way. Sometimes, it can trip a team up, and sometimes, it can fuel them. For the Havre High girls basketball team, it was both.

Seniors Kaylee Nystrom, Danielle Wallace, Marca Herron, Kyley Verploegen and Ryen Olson (currently injured) were in the HHS gymnasium for the last game of their careers Friday night, against the toughest opponent they've seen all year - the Browning Indians. And while Havre got off to a bit of a slow start, they finished anything but slow in a rousing 72-53 win.

"These five guys have meant a lot to our season, and to this program," HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. "They've set the tone for us to be successful. They play so hard, and every one of them brings something great to our team individually. But I think what's so special about them is, as a group, they seem to only care about our team being successful. We're just very lucky to have them."

And the four seniors who played Friday night made sure their last game in the Pony Corral was a memorable one.

Browning scored the first four points of the game, and early on, Havre struggled on both ends of the floor. But when Kyndall Keller scored on back-to-back trips down the floor, the Ponies moved in front for the first time, and, while Browning hung tough, Havre would never trail again.

"It's one of those things, the emotions of senior night," Kraske said. "Our younger players did an awesome job of honoring these seniors before the game, and it's very emotional. But then, five minutes later, you have to go out and play the best team on our schedule. So I think we got off to a bit of a rusty start. We gave up a bunch of rebounds, and we were out of sync offensively for a while there."

And still, Havre led 12-8 after the first quarter, and the Ponies continued an 8-0 spurt into the second stanza. Keller caught fire in the second, but a steal and a hoop from Nystrom late in period, helped Havre take a 30-25 lead into intermission.

The third quarter saw the Ponies score five quick points to lead 35-25, but with big plays coming from Taylor Jordan, the Indians, at one point, were within two points at 39-37, following an 8-2 run.

The close game wouldn't last though.

Herron buried a three to end the third quarter, giving Havre a 45-39 advantage. Then came the deluge. Herron hit another triple to open the fourth period, and Verpolegen scored on a layup right after, sparking what would become a 17-2 run in a quarter that saw the Ponies outscore the Indians 27-14. Havre had six steals in the period, and got big buckets from Nystrom and Wallace during the barrage that left the Indians completely gassed.

"I thought we got our tempo where we wanted it to be in the second half, especially by the end of the third quarter," Kraske said. "Browning is a very good basketball team, and they hung tough for a lot of this game. But I think our defensive pressure, and us constantly wanting to push the ball up offensively, I think it wore them down. That's a credit to our kids because even when we weren't playing as well as could have in the first half, they kept playing hard and kept doing what we do."

The Ponies certainly did. Their pressure forced 22 Browning turnovers, while on the offensive end, Keller finished with a game-high 23 points, including a brilliant 14-for-17 performance from the charity stripe. And the senior trio of Nystrom, Herron and Verpolegen each scored 11 points on what turned out to be a very special night for the Blue Ponies.

"Happy for the kids," Kraske said. "It's always fun to end your home schedule with a game like this. Browning is a very good basketball team, but gosh, our kids played really well."

Saturday night saw the Blue Ponies continue their winning ways with a hard-fought, 62-56 win at Rocky Boy. Havre led the Morning Stars from start-to-finish, but Rocky Boy hung tough, with Adrienne Gopher scoring a game-high 26 points. Keller led Havre with 25 points, while Herron scored 18 and Wallace added 12.

The Ponies are now 16-0 on the season, with two games left. Tonight, they make up a postponed game with the Lewistown Eagles in Lewistown, followed by their regular season finale at Class AA CMR on Tuesday night.

Havre 72, Browning 53

Browning 8 17 14 14 - 53

Havre 12 18 15 27 - 72

Browning: W. Running Crane 2, Polk 2, Hall 8, T. Jordan 7, R. Jordan 20, Old Person 2, Skunkcap 4, T. Running Crane 3, Guardipee 5.

Havre: Kyndall Keller 23, Kaylee Nystrom 11, Kadia Miller 2, Marca Herron 11, Katie Wirtzberger 9, Loy Waid 1, Kyley Verploegen 11.

Havre 62, Rocky Boy 56

Havre 12 12 24 14 - 62

Rocky Boy 9 12 18 17 - 56

Havre: Keller 25, Nystrom 2, Miller 3, Herron 18, Wallace 12, Verploegen 2.

Rocky Boy: Sean Henry 12, Sasha Coffee 11, Adrienne Gopher 26, Jaylynn Mitchell 3, Rochelle Pease 4.