Blue Ponies stop the M-Ettes in the Corral

It has been a great season for the Havre High girls basketball team so far. Just last Thursday on the road in Great Falls, the Blue Ponies pulled off a comeback in overtime to win against the CMR Lady Rustlers. After that big win, Havre was looking forward to a win against the Malta M-Ettes Saturday.

And win the Ponies did.

Havre beat the M-Ettes 61-45 Saturday in the Havre High Gymnasium to complete the sweep of Malta for the season. The victory over the M-Ettes brings the Blue Ponies to a 13-1 overall record for the year.

HHS put forth a big effort in the matchup against Malta and senior Kyndall Keller was glad the team come together for another win.

"I think we did pretty good," Keller said. "That was a good win. We're coming off of a lot of sickness and it wasn't the greatest week of practice, but I thought we came out and did pretty well."

The Ponies started off the game strong by going on a 10-0 run, with Keller, Loy Waid, Kylie Walker and Katie Wirtzberger all putting up shots to take the lead early. Malta responded with a few baskets, but Kadia Miller, Sadie Filius and Sam Oliver put up some more baskets for Havre. The first quarter saw seven different Blue Ponies put up baskets to lead 17-6.

Wirtzberger, Filius and Keller kicked off the second stanza by combining for a quick 7-0 run, followed by a field goal by Miller shortly after. The M-Ettes went on a 6-0 run in the final minutes of the quarter, but Havre still led 26-17 at halftime.

Sam Oliver had an overall good game on the hardwood Saturday and was happy to see her team rise to the challenge.

"I thought it was a good game," Oliver said. "I thought we worked well together as a team and everybody worked hard. It was an all-around good game."

After the intermission, Keller and Oliver added some more points to the score, Malta answered with a 6-0 run, but Wirtzberger, Filius and Jessa Chvilicek went on a 6-0 of their own to answer. In the final seconds, the M-Ettes dropped a field goal to cut into the Blue Pony lead, but HHS kept ahead 39-28 after the third period.

The final eight minutes included a lot of back-and-forth play, but the Ponies did go on a short 7-0 run to push their lead ahead. From there, Keller and Oliver kept dropping baskets to stay up, while the M-Ettes closed off the game by going on a 6-0 run, but Havre had enough of a lead to claim the win on its home court.

In the end, Keller led the Blue Ponies with 15 points, followed by Oliver, Filius and Wirtzberger, who all put up nine points each against Malta.

Even with the win, there were some hiccups on the court, but Oliver was proud to see Havre overcome those mishaps to grab the win.

"We definitely could've communicated better," Oliver said. "There was a lot of miscommunication and there were a few people that had some turnovers, but they got over it very quickly. I thought everyone did really well."

Next up, the Ponies have two games in the Havre High Gymnasium, starting with Northeast A conference rival Sidney Saturday, followed by a game against the Browning Lady Indians Feb. 14.

Havre 61, Malta 45

Malta 6 11 11 17 - 45

Havre 17 9 13 22 - 61

Malta – Kylee Nelson 3, Erica Smith 4, Kelbee Denham 6, Sidney Meeks 2, Kylie Hunter 4, Addy Anderson 7, Kaylee Bishop 2, Allison Kunze 8, Madison Williamson 9. Totals: 13 16-24 45.

Havre – Sam Oliver 9, Kyndall Keller 15, Kylie Walker 3, Loy Waid 5, Kadia Miller 7, Jessa Chvilicek 4, Sadie Filius 9, Katie Wirtzberger 9. Totals: 25 4-5 61.