Blue Ponies ground Eagles

During the first half against Fairfield Saturday night, the Havre High girls basketball team played like it underestimated the Eagles and with the legendary Dustin Gordon on the opposing sideline, that's not something you can do.

As a result, when halftime rolled around, the Eagles trailed the Blue Ponies, the top-ranked team in Class A and defending state champions, 25-23.

"I thought our kids went through the motions in the first half," HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. "But in the second half, I thought we played very well."

By very well, Kraske means outscoring Fairfield 37-14 over the final 16 minutes of play en route to a 62-37 win for the Ponies Saturday night inside the HHS gymnasium. The game was right there for the taking, but a 15-0 run to open the third quarter that saw the Eagles go scoreless for 6:20 ended any drama.

"I thought our energy level was better," Kraske said. "I thought our enthusiasm was better, I thought our hard work was better and that led to a really good second-half effort on our part. Fairfield is fundamentally very good and they can break you down if you are not ready to go and I didn't think we were mentally ready to go in the first half. But kudos to our kids, they did a wonderful job in the second half. Everybody."

In the early going, the Eagles were able to force the Ponies into some turnovers and they also got six first-quarter points from Emily Clotfelter. A couple scores on backdoor cuts by Kenna Pitcher also helped Fairfield build a 14-13 advantage after one.

In the second, Kyndall Keller scored twice on offensive rebounds before knocking down a 3-pointer which put Havre in front 25-19. Yet, a 4-0 run in the final minutes of the half kept the Eagles within striking distance.

Opening the second half up by just two points, Havre emerged from the locker room and sophomore Loy Waid sparked a 6-0 run in the first couple of minutes as she scored twice. For the game, she wound up with 13.

"She has really started to come into her own," Kraske said. "She is starting to play how she is capable of playing."

Waid scored twice more during the Ponies 15-0 spurt, a run that also included another 3-pointer from Keller, which made the score 38-25 Havre with 3:53 left in the third. When the stanza was over, Fairfield finished with just four points and suddenly trailed 40-27. A triple by Jessa Chvilicek sparked a 10-2 run to open the fourth quarter. HHS scored 22 points total in the final period and eventually won the game by 25.

Keller led all scorers with a game-high 20 points. Waid added 13 and Kadia Miller finished with six. Coltfelter finished with nine to lead the Eagles, who also got eight form Pitcher.

Havre is now 10-0 on the season and has won 34 games in a row. The Ponies will be back in action this weekend with back-to-back home games against Livingston and Belgrade Friday and Saturday inside the HHS gymnasium.

Havre 62, Fairfield 37

Fairfield 14 9 4 10 - 37

Havre 13 12 15 22 - 62

Havre: Sam Oliver 2, Kyndall Keller 20, Kylie Walker 4, Loy Waid 13, Abby Morse 3, Jesse Chvilicek 5, Katie Wirtzberger 2, Sadie Filius 3, Kassidy Compton 4, Kadia Miller 6.

Fairfield: Naemi Wipf 6, Madison Rosenbaum 4, Taylor Simmons 4, Kenna Pitcher 8, Cheyenne Maddox 6, Emily Clotfelter 9.