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News you can use
Coming out of the winter break, it would have been easy for the Havre High girls basketball team to come out sluggish in its first two games of 2022 this past weekend. While the Blue Ponies did have some slow starts, they kept up their winning ways on the road with a 53-35 win at Miles City Friday night and then a 48-40 win over Hardin Saturday.
“I thought we played really well. Our kids were on it and ready to go,” HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said about his team’s performance over the weekend.
Early on against Miles City Friday night, it looked like the Cowgirls were going to make it a contest against the Ponies. After baskets from Jade Wendland and Yelena Miller to give Havre a 4-3 lead just under two minutes into the game, the Cowgirls shut down the Ponies for the rest of the quarter. Meanwhile, Miles City got some rhythm on offense to take a 9-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. While the Ponies struggled to put it in the basket early on, Kraske believes the ball just was not going their way.
“We had open looks but we missed. That’s just what it was,” Kraske said. “I thought our shots were all pretty good. They weren’t quite ready to make them.”
But the Ponies flipped the script in the second quarter to take control of the game. The Havre offense finally got on a roll to tune of 18 points in the frame. Wendland and Avery Carlson led the way with five points each. Not only did the Ponies get their offense going in the second quarter, but they picked up their defensive intensity to limit the Cowgirls to no points in the quarter.
“We just trapped a little bit and we were able to get some easy baskets,” Kraske said about the second quarter.
The Ponies did not relent in the second half as they continued to pull away. They continued to roll on offense as they scored 22 points in the third while limiting the Cowgirls to only 10 points. Miller had a strong quarter as she led Havre with six points during the frame.
With the sizable lead, the Ponies cruised through the fourth quarter on their way to a 53-35 win to start 2022. Wendland led the Ponies with 12 points while Carlson scored 11. Lainey Smith led Miles City with 11 points.
The Ponies continued their winning ways on Saturday with their win against then undefeated Hardin. The Bulldogs demonstrated why they were undefeated as they fought the Ponies early on. After Havre jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to baskets from Miller and Lacy Preeshl, the Bulldogs came right back to take a 5-4 lead. Over the rest of the first quarter, the Ponies and Bulldogs exchanged scores but Hardin held an 11-9 lead at the end of the frame.
The Bulldogs maintained momentum in the second quarter as they built an 18-13 lead with about three and a half minutes left in the half. But the Ponies were able to get into a rhythm as they ended the half on a 14-6 run for a 27-24 lead at the half. Miller continued to play well for the Ponies with five points during that stretch.
The third quarter was a defensive slugfest with neither team getting into a rhythm on offense. The only scores in the first four minutes of the quarter came from a Sadie Filius jumper and a 3-pointer from Carlson to make the lead 32-24. While the Bulldogs went on a 5-3 run, they still trailed, 35-29, heading to the fourth.
In the first four minutes of the final quarter, the Ponies went on a 6-2 run which Miller got started with a pair of layups. The Bulldogs were able to cut their deficit to 41-35 with just under three minutes left but they could not break through as Havre held on to win 48-40.
“Our kids played so maturely,” Kraske said. “Everybody was doing what they were supposed to do, our communication was good, our ball reversal was good, our inside-out game was good and defensively, we did such a nice job keeping kids in front of us and making them shoot over our hands.”
Filius led the Ponies with 14 points in the game while Miller scored 13 and Wendland scored 11. Kylee Old Elk and Kamber Good Luck each scored 10 points in the loss for the Bulldogs. The Ponies are now 7-1 this season and are 4-0 in the Northeast A. While the Ponies are off to a strong start this season, Kraske believes they can still improve at the small things.
“You can always improve fundamentally and we have to continue to work on those skills,” Kraske said. “I thought our kids did a better job this weekend of catching to score than they did before Christmas. That’s another thing we’ll have to continue to improve at, the mindset of being able to do more with the basketball.”
The Ponies will return home to play Browning at Havre High Gymnasium this Thursday night at 7 p.m. The Ponies will follow that up with a home game against Fairfield Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Havre 55, Miles City 35
Havre 4 18 22 11 - 55
Miles City 9 0 10 16 - 35
Havre - Jade Wendland 12, Avery Carlson 11, Sadie Filius 9, Yelena Miller 8, Emilee Chambliss 8, Alyssa Oliver 3, Danni Wirtzberger 2, Kyanna Jarvis 2.
Miles City - Lainey Smith 11, Alora Baker 6, Sam Peila 4, Jillian Kanduch 4, Heidi Phalen 4, Camden W. 2, Reagan Laplante 2, Alli Glasscock 2.
Havre 48, Hardin 40
Havre 9 18 8 13 - 48
Hardin 11 13 5 11 - 40
Havre - Sadie Filius 14, Yelena Miller 13, Jade Wendland 11, Avery Carlson 6, Lacy Preeshl 2, Kyanna Jarvis 2.
Hardin - Kylee Old Elk 10, Kamber Good Luck 10, Breanna Old Elk 7, Evelyn Old Coyote 6, Diamond Amyotte 2, Katerena Morrison 2, Lexis Hogan 2, Aiyanna Big Man 1.
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