Home and Away: Ponies sweep Sidney

In the case of the annual series between the Havre High girls and the Sidney Eagles, it's a new year, but Friday night in the HHS gymnasium, it was the same old story.

One night after winning in Browning, Havre returned to the Blue Pony Corral to play a Northeast A game against Sidney, and like many games against the Eagles in the past, it was no contest as the Ponies clobbered the Eagles 69-19.

"We shot the ball well early," Havre head coach Dustin Kraske said. "We got it going right off the bat, and then the kids who came in off the bench were ready to rock, and that was really fun to watch."

The fun started with an early 3-pointer by Kylie Walker, and six straight points from Britton Paulson. Walker then closed out the first quarter with a triple that sent the Ponies to a 21-2 lead.

On the other end of the floor, Havre's defense held Sidney without a field goal until the 6:39 mark of the second stanza, while HHS continued to roll offensively as Yelena Miller scored 10 points in the period and Avery Carlson canned a trey to put HHS up 44-9 at halftime.

The second half then became a coronation for the Ponies, as Sydney Wilting and Kennedy Hampton got into the 3-point act giving Havre a 60-12 lead, and a running clock for the entire fourth period, a period in which Lacy Preeshl also buried a trey for the Ponies, who shot 57 percent from the floor and made seven three's overall.

The Ponies were also very balanced, as they continued to share the ball well. Miller led all scorers with 16 points, while Carlson added 11 and Walker chipped in with 10. Paulson also gave the Ponies eight of their 23 bench points.

"I love the way this team shares the ball," Kraske said. "They are a very unselfish group, and when they share the ball like we did tonight, the results are really good."

Havre also had a good result on a tough road trip Thursday night, when the Ponies beat Browning 49-37. Sadie Filius scored 14 points in the win for HHS, which is now 4-1 overall and 3-0 in the Northeast A.

"It was a close game in Browning," Kraske said. "What we did well was, we got rebounds and stops when we really needed them, and we were very poised down the stretch. It was a battle and when it was time to finish the game, I thought our kids handled that really well."

Indeed. Havre did a strong job of bouncing back from a tough loss to Hardin a week ago. Now the Ponies will take their momentum into a busy stretch of games, which includes a visit to Glendive Friday night and a rematch in Sidney Saturday.

Pony boys bounce back

While the Havre High girls were blowing out Sidney at home, the Blue Pony boys were taking care of the Eagles on the road.

Friday night, the Havre High boys put their stinging loss to Browning one night earlier behind them with a 66-40 win over the host Eagles.

Havre jumped on Sidney earlier, going ahead by as much as 25-9, and leading by 17 points at half. The Ponies got a balanced scoring attack, led by junior Caden Jenkins, who scored 14 points, while sophomore Isaac Pedraza had 11 and senior Nolan Lotton scored 19. The win also kept HHS undefeated in the Northeast A.

"It was an overall good team win tonight on the road," HHS head coach Walynn Burgess said. "We are starting to figure out how hard it is to win on the road. I felt like the boys really responded well tonight. We had some different players step up tonight and play well. We will never complain about a road win, but we understand there is plenty of things we can improved. We're excited to get back to the corral next weekend for two more conference games."

Havre (3-0, 3-2) will be back in the Blue Pony Corral for games against Glendive Friday night and a rematch with Sidney on Saturday.

Havre Girls 69, Sidney 19

Sidney 2 7 3 7 - 19

Havre 21 23 16 9 - 69

Sidney - Taylor Hansen 4, Jenna Anderson 3, Sophie Peters 6, Olivia Schepp 4, Ali Merritt 2.

Havre - Sydney Wilting 3, Lacy Preeshl 5, Kylie Walker 10, Kennedy Hampton 5, Loy Waid 5, Avery Carlson 11, Yelena Miller 16, Sadie Filius 4, Quinn McDonald 2, Britton Paulson 8.

Havre boys 66, Sidney 40

Havre 17 20 12 17 - 66

Sidney 14 6 12 8 - 40

Havre - Josh Warp 8, Max Olson 2, Nolan Lotton 10, Crawford Terry 2, Josh Currie 6, Isaac Pedraza 11, Xavier Butler 1, Caden Jenkins 14, Trenton Maloughney 2, Clint Owens 8, Caleb Spangler 2.

Sidney - Jerome Entz 15, Boston Peters 2, Chance Waters 5, Riley Jackson 2, Parker Sinks 4, Kaston Leroy 4.