Havre High girls ready roll against Rangers, Panthers

Under the direction of head coach Dustin Kraske, the Havre High girls basketball team has dominated play in the Central A conference.

And with two wins at home this weekend against Livingston and Belgrade, the Blue Ponies will once again wrap up the top seed from the Central A at the Eastern A Divisional tournament next month. Havre (10-0, 3-0) will play the first of back-to-back home games tonight at 6 against Livingston. The Ponies will then return to the HHS gymnasium Saturday to take on Belgrade. Tip-off time is set for 4 p.m.

"We talked to the girls about if we win this weekend then we will win the league," Kraske said. "That's one of the things we would like to do. We have had a couple of conversations about it, so we understand that if these games go the way we would like them to that we will be conference champs again."

In the first matchup of the weekend, Havre will take on Livingston, which is 4-7 overall and 1-2 in the Central A. The Rangers were able to knock off Lewistown but also have losses to both Havre and Belgrade. One of the Rangers' biggest challenges will be scoring enough points to keep things competitive against a Havre team that limits opponents to fewer than 35 points a game. Livingston comes in scoring just over 38 points on average.

Kodie Vondra leads the way for Livingston with 9.6 ppg, while Abby Kokot also contributes with 9.5 ppg. The only other Rangers player who scores more than five points a game is Danielle Babcox (5.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg). As a team, the Rangers have scored 40 points in just five of their 11 games but reached 50 points only once and that was in a season-opening win over Miles City (60-47).

Livingston is going to have its work cut out for it against the Ponies, but Saturday, Belgrade will have at least a puncher's chance against HHS. When the two teams met in Belgrade earlier this season, the Panthers were able to stay within striking distance before Havre eventually pulled away in the end and won by 15.

Unlike the Rangers, Belgrade also boasts one of the most dynamic scorers in Class A basketball and that's junior Gabby Weber, who averages 14 points a game for the Panthers. She was a big reason why Belgrade was able to qualify for the state tournament a season ago and she along with Bailey Christensen (9.5 ppg, 7.8 rpg), have the team averaging 48 points total, which is the second in the Central A behind Havre, which averages 62.9 ppg.

"Belgrade played us tough down there," Kraske said. "Weber is a really solid player and so is the Christensen girl, so they can cause you some problems. We have talked about starting fast and coming out and setting the tone."

On top of trying to extend their school-record winning streak to 36 games this weekend, the Ponies will also wrap up the regular season title in the Central A with wins over Livingston and Belgrade. Leading the charge in that effort for Havre will be junior Kyndall Keller, the team's leading scorer with 16.2 ppg. She also leads the team in rebounds with 5.8 per game and is tied with Jessa Chvilicek for the team lead in 3-pointers with 14.

Fellow junior Kadia Miller is the second-leading scorer for Havre with 7.8 ppg, followed by Loy Waid (7.4 ppg) and Chvilicek (7.0 ppg). Chvilicek, a junior who comes off the bench for the Ponies, has developed into one of the top perimeter shooters in the state and on 30 attempts, she is making 46 percent of her three's. She is also second on the team in steals with 24, behind starting point guard Kylie Walker, who has 28.

Sadie Filius has also played a key role for the Ponies off the bench lately, while Katie Wirtzberger, Lauren Kato and Sam Oliver have all been solid contributors on both ends of the floor.

Havre and Livingston will square off tonight at 6. The Ponies will then host Belgrade Saturday at 4 p.m. Both games will be played inside the HHS gymnasium.