Havre girl's basketball set for tough weekend slate

The Havre High girls basketball team is back in action with a pair of games this weekend at home. At Havre High Gymnasium tonight, the Blue Ponies start the weekend with a conference game against Miles City. The Ponies will then play again with a contest against Hardin Saturday.

The Miles City Cowgirls have a 3-2 record this season with a 1-0 start to Northeast A competition. The Cowgirls are looking to build off last year where they qualified for the state tournament. While the Ponies have gotten the better of Miles City lately, HHS head coach Dustin Kraske expects a tough battle tonight.

"I think it's going to be a great game," Kraske said. "They get better every week, they're very well coached, they have very good athletes and very good basketball players so I think it's going to be really fun."

The Ponies will play the second game of their doubleheader against Hardin Saturday. The Bulldogs are off to a hot start this season with a 4-1 record. It has been a balanced attack for the Bulldogs this season, but Aiyanna Big Man leads the way with 11.6 points a game on 40.8 percent shooting. Hardin usually gives the Ponies a fight, so Kraske believes the Ponies will be challenged this weekend.

"I think that both of these games would probably be as close to tournament games as we can get on back to back nights," Kraske said. "That'll be exciting for our kids to see how we handle adversity of playing two very good teams that are both very well coached."

The Ponies are 3-2 this season with a 2-0 start to conference play. After two tough losses to open the season, the Ponies have now won three games in a row heading into this weekend. While the holiday break might have slowed down their momentum, Kraske believes the Ponies used that time to improve.

"We're obviously looking to continue to develop our defensive mindset and our fundamentals on both ends of the floor," Kraske said. "We have to play basketball better. That's what every week is for us. To continue to get better as individuals and continue to get better as a team, and I feel like we have done that."

Several Ponies will look to continue their strong starts to the season. Amaya Jarvis is off to a hot start this year averaging 17.4 points a contest. Ariana Gary has been contributing 9.2 points a game while Tierra Parker has picked up her play as she has averaged 10.3 points in her last three games.

After a tough start to the season, the Ponies have found their strides over their last few games of 2022. As they head into the new year and get closer to the postseason, Kraske wants to see the Ponies continue to play with the energy they had just before the break.

"I thought we played at a high level in both areas and I'd like to see that continue," Kraske said. "Mix that with some better fundamentals and how much we've been working on, I just think we'll just continue to improve."

The HHS girls basketball team will tip off against Miles City at HHS Gymnasium tonight at 7:30 p.m. The Ponies will then wrap up the weekend with a game against Hardin at home Saturday at 4 p.m.