Blue Ponies trot into semifinals

MISSOULA - It wasn't the Four Seasons Arena, in Great Falls, but the Havre High girls looked right at home in Missoula.

Thursday afternoon, the Blue Ponies began defense of their 2021 state championship with a 66-37 thrashing of the Browning Indians in the first round of the Class A state tournament in Dahlberg Arena. The win pushed Havre into tonight's semifinal where they'll face the Dillon Beavers at 8 p.m.

But, as lopsided as the game turned out to be, and it was Havre's third win over Browning this season, it wasn't as easy as it looked according to head coach Dustin Kraske.

"We knew it would be a physical game," Krase said. "Browning plays hard. I thought our kids handled that pretty well. I think it certainly helped that we played them twice already. I thought we were as prepared as we could be."

Havre opened the game with a 3-pointer from Sadie Filius, and the Ponies clamped down on defense, leading 11-4 after eight minutes. Avery Carlson then banged home a trey to open the second stanza, but Browning hit two triples of their own to fight back. From there, however, Havre started to work the ball inside to Yelena Miller, while Filius hit a runner late as the Ponies extended their lead to 31-19 at the break.

In the third quarter, Jade Wendland knocked down a trey early, while Miller was a workhorse in the paint, as the Ponies' lead grew to 42-23.

"I thought we came out to start the second half really well," Kraske said. "We made some adjustments and we played pretty well offensively the rest of the game."

Indeed. Havre shot 47 percent in the second half, as Lacy Preeshl scored two quick buckets in the fourth stanza, and ultimately the Ponies won going away. Filius led the Ponies with 18 points, while Miller scored 12 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Carlson finished with nine as well, while Preeshl pulled down eight boards. Defensively, Havre also held Browning to 18 percent, while also forcing the Indians, who finished third in the Northwest A, into 20 turnovers.

Meanwhile, Thursday's win sets up a battle with Dillon, who beat Butte Central. It's Havre's 10th straight Class A semifinal berth. And while the Ponies will scout the Beavers as best they can, Kraske said it's just as much about what his team has to do to get to Saturday night's championship game.

"We just want to get better," Kraske said. "Play better than we did today. We just need to keep executing what we do. That's always our goal."

Havre 66, Browning 37

Browning 4 17 2 14 - 37

Havre 11 20 11 24 - 66

Browning - Mecca Bullchild 19, Jerel Whitegrass 7, Bailey Racine 2, Sugar Spoonhunter 1, Kinsley Bird 4, Cara Guardipee 3, Kelcie Connelly 2, Tashilynn LazyBoy 1.

Havre - Lacy Preeshl 5, Jade Wendland 6, Avery Carlson 9, Yelena Miller 12, Sadie Filius 18, Alyssa Oliver 7, Lizzi Haney 2, Danni Wirtzberger 2, Kyanna Jarvis 3, Kenzie Kallenberger 2.