Blue Ponies host Fairfield in a Corral doubleheader

After having their games against Browning on Thursday postponed, the Havre High boys and girls basketball teams are excited to be back in the Blue Pony Corral for a doubleheader tonight.

The HHS boys and girls will host Class B Fairfield, with games starting at 6 in the Havre High gymnasium.

This season has been one of growth for the Havre High boys. The Blue Ponies have shown what they are capable of in their wins while also displaying their youth in their losses.

"We're just going to have to come out and just be ready for a physical battle," HHS head coach Walynn Burgess said of tonight's game against the Eagles. "We're really excited about the opportunity. We get to play against a really good 'B' team in Fairfield."

The Fairfield Eagles come from the Northern B and are 4-3 this season. The Eagles are coming off of a season where they finished second in the Northern B and qualified for the Class B state tournament.

They return several players from that squad such as all-state player Kaelob Flores. Daniel Faith also returns for the Eagles after a first team all-conference season last year. The Ponies will also need to watch out for Owen Cartwright-Gines and Cooper Christensen who have been reliable scores for Fairfield this season. Along with the leadership of head coach Jordan Ratliff, the Eagles should prove a worthy adversary for the Ponies.

"They're always well coached. Jordan's always got them running and they always play hard," Burgess said. "We just got to be ready for a good battle."

The Ponies are 4-4 to start the year and are 2-2 in the Northeast A. The Ponies are coming off a home stand this past weekend where they went 1-1. The Ponies pulled out a 54-51 victory over conference foe Miles City thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Caden Jenkins. But they then lost, 67-60, to Hardin to close the weekend.

Through the ups and downs this season, several Ponies have played well. Jenkins leads the Ponies as he averages ten points a game on 38 percent shooting from the field and 37 percent shooting from deep. Xavier Butler leads the Ponies with five rebounds a game while scoring 9.2 points a game.

The Ponies do not have much more time to grow as the postseason begins about a month from now. If they are going to start that upward trajectory towards the postseason, they will need to begin that this weekend with their game against Fairfield. Specifically, Burgess hopes that his team can improve at rebounding and defense in order to compete in this game and later in the season.

"We got to make sure we're working on that defensive end," Burgess said. "Definitely going to have to hit the glass harder than we did last weekend and overall, we just got to keep working together. Keep working towards that goal at the end of February."

The Havre High girls, meanwhile, have been chugging along this season. The Blue Ponies are currently 7-1 and 4-0 in the Northeast A to start the year and show no signs of slowing down. After picking up a pair of wins on the road this past weekend, the Ponies will try to keep up their winning ways this Friday night when they host Fairfield at Havre High Gymnasium. As they head into the back half of their schedule, HHS head coach Dustin Kraske hopes to see his team continue to improve starting this weekend.

"We have to continue to develop the details of how we play. We get excited sometimes and maybe don't play together 100 percent of the time. I just think we have to focus on how we improve," Kraske said. "It'll be a good test to see if we can zone in and continue to want to be better."

Fairfield is a Northern B team that has not gotten many chances to play this season. When they have gotten on the court, the Eagles have a 3-1 record, including a win over Rocky Boy this past weekend. The Eagles are coming off an appearance in last season's Class B state tournament. While they graduated first team all-conference players Madison Rosenbaum and Cheyenne Maddox, Kraske expects the Eagles to battle.

"They always play really hard, which is what we love about them," Kraske said. "They're a good basketball program so that'll be fun for us to play them."

After winning a state title last season, the Ponies have not missed a beat. Their only loss this season came by one point in overtime on the road against state runner up Billings Central. The Ponies have grinded out wins against tough non-conference opponents such as Laurel, Malta and Hardin. In the Northeast A, the Ponies have dominated with an average margin of victory of 35.5 points per game.

Yelena Miller is having another strong year for the Ponies as she leads the team with 12.3 points per game and 6.8 rebounds a game. Avery Carlson is right behind her on the stat sheet with 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds a game. Jade Wendland is also making an impact with 11 points a game and 21 total steals this season. Sadie Filius is also playing well as she leads the team with 30 total assists this season and also has 18 steals.

"It'll be our senior leadership. You get to the midpoint in the season where your seniors have to take over," Kraske said. "We'll have to continue to get our younger kids some quality minutes at junior varsity and varsity level as we get to the end of the season because we're going to need some strong role play at the end of the year for us to have a good team."

The Havre boys start tonight's doubleheader against Fairfield at 6, with the girls game set to tip at 7:30.