Powerhouse Ponies ready to stampede

The Havre High girl's basketball would love to see a repeat of the 2020-21 season.

Last year, the Blue Ponies finished the season as the Class A state champions along with a 17-3 record. But as they head into this season, the expectations stay the same for HHS head coach Dustin Kraske.

"Do our best every night, play together as a team and have some fun," Kraske said about the upcoming season.

The Ponies fortunately return several players from last year's championship team. Yelena Miller comes back after an all-state season where she led the Ponies averaging 14.1 points per game and five rebounds a game. Sadie Filius returns for her senior season after an all-state year where she led the team in assists and averaged 10.9 points and 4.4 rebounds a game. Avery Carlson will return for the Ponies after earning second-team all-conference honors last season.

If the Ponies are going to repeat last year's success, they will need other returning players, and newcomers to step up. Alyssa Oliver returns after providing a boost from the bench last season. Other seniors on the team this year include Lacy Preeshl and North Star transfer Jade Wendland who helped the Knights win the District 9C last year.

Havre returns several juniors such as Lizzi Haney, Danni Wirtzberger and Molly Huse. The sophomore class will be made up of Emilee Chambliss, Kyanna Jarvis, Elle Verploegen and Shea Reber, and freshmen joining the program this winter include Kenzie Kallenberger and Tierra Parker.

As they head into the season, Kraske hopes they can carry over their team chemistry from previous years and build off of it.

"Our team unity has always been pretty good. I'm hoping this year's team will do the same," Kraske said. "They're very coachable. I think that'll always be positive and we'll strive to get better."

The Ponies have been one of the most successful programs in Montana history, with three state titles in the past four years.

However, Kraske knows, just like every year, it is a brand new season for the Ponies.

"That was last year's thing," Kraske said. "Our focus is on trying to meet the maximum potential of what this team might have in them so that process has already started. We're trying to build our best team this year."

The Ponies will need to get better as they march through their schedule on their way to the postseason. The Ponies have tough opponents on their schedule such as Laurel, Hardin and Billings Central, who they defeated in double overtime in the state championship last season. The Ponies will also play non-conference teams such as Malta and Fairfield. But the Ponies will need to be at their best in the Northeast A when they play the likes of Glendive, Lewistown, Miles City and Sidney.

"Our conference games are important to us because it determines things for us seeding-wise," Kraske said. "Our 18-game schedule is pretty salty."

With the schedule ahead of them, Kraske knows that the Ponies will have to use each game to get better in order to be at the top of their game come playoff time.

"We'll get better every day and play together," Kraske said about what they need to do to have a successful season. "It's as simple as that. Focus on getting better and playing together regardless of the results."

The Ponies will begin their season tonight at 6 when they host Laurel inside the Armory Gymnasium on the MSU-Northern.