Havre girls basketball defeats Cowgirls, falters against Bulldogs

Coming out of the holiday break, the Havre High girls basketball team had a doubleheader at home at Havre High Gymnasium this past weekend. In their first game in 2023, the Blue Ponies defeated conference foe Miles City, 58-49, Friday night. But the Ponies then went on to suffer a 49-48 loss to Hardin Saturday.

In Friday night's game against Miles City, it was the Cowgirls that came out sharp as they jumped out to a 14-6 lead over the Ponies. Lainey Smith scored five points early in the game, including a 3-pointer. In their first game of 2023, HHS head coach Dustin Kraske credited the Miles City defense for slowing the Ponies down early.

"Miles City was making us play faster than we would have liked and that caused us to shoot a little prematurely on a lot of possessions," Kraske said.

In the final minute of the quarter, the Ponies found a spark when Ariana Gary made a pair of free throws and a bucket to cut Miles City's lead to 14-10 to end the quarter. Avery Carlson then started the second with a score to cut the deficit to two points.

However, the Cowgirls responded with a 7-2 run to stretch their lead to 21-14. Smith continued to make plays as she scored another five points during this stretch.

The Ponies responded with an 11-4 run to end the half. Molly Huse led the Ponies with five points in the run. Amaya Jarvis also made an impact with a three to tie the game, 25-25, heading into halftime.

Through most of the third quarter, the Ponies and Cowgirls exchanged scores. With the game tied, 29-29, the Cowgirls went on a 5-2 run to take a 34-31 lead. But the Ponies came right back at them with a run to tie the game at 36-36 with about three and a half minutes left in the frame.

The Ponies finally took control in the game with a 9-0 run. Several Ponies made plays during this run, including Sierra Parker with back-to-back baskets that gave Havre a 45-36 lead. The Cowgirls finally put an end to the run, but the Ponies were able to take a 49-42 lead into the fourth.

"We were less selfish with the ball, we passed it around more and our enthusiasm was up more in the second half," Tierra Parker said about the Ponies in the second half. "We just came together more as a team and we got our act together."

After Tierra Parker scored to give Havre a 51-42 lead to start the fourth, the Cowgirls attempted a comeback. Thanks to a three from Smith and a pair of buckets from Alli Glasscock, the Cowgirls cut the deficit to 51-49 early in the fourth.

But the Ponies shut down the Cowgirls the rest of the way to secure the victory and remain undefeated in the Northeast A. Jarvis led the Ponies with 13 points while Gary scored 11 and Tierra Parker scored 10. Riley Smith led Miles City with 17 points and Lainey Smith scored 13 for the Cowgirls.

The Ponies had a tougher game Saturday when they faced Hardin. The Bulldogs started the game strong as they took an 11-3 lead in the first quarter as Diamond Amyotte made an early impact with four points. Meanwhile, all three points for the Ponies came at the free-throw line as they made no field goals.

"I think we turned it over way too much," Kraske said about the Ponies' early offense. "We shot the ball incredibly fast and played immaturely."

The Bulldogs started the second quarter with a 5-0 run to stretch the lead to 16-3. Gary and Kyanna Jarvis made a pair of baskets in response, but the Bulldogs responded with a pair of scores to keep a 20-7 lead.

Over most of the second quarter, the Bulldogs and Ponies exchanged baskets. Every time the Ponies scored, the Bulldogs responded to maintain their lead. In the second quarter, the Bulldogs got many offensive rebounds to give themselves more chances to score.

"We didn't quite have them ready in that aspect," Kraske said about the rebounding. "We weren't doing what we were supposed to be doing with blocks and checking them off. We made them shoot some tough shots but they rebounded and got put backs."

Late in the half, the Bulldogs had a 27-13 lead. But with less than a minute left in the half, the Ponies made some plays to give themselves some momentum. With 25.7 seconds left in the half, Sierra Parker scored for the Ponies. Then after a stop, Carlson scored to cut the deficit to 27-17 heading into the halftime break.

The Bulldogs started the third quarter strong to push their lead to 33-19, but after that, the Ponies dominated the third to get back in the game. Kyanna Jarvis got rolling with five points, including a three that cut the deficit to single digits. After cutting Hardin's lead to 34-31, Carlson and Gary made back-to-back baskets to give Havre a 35-34 lead after trailing all game.

In the final minutes of the third, the Ponies and Bulldogs exchanged scores. After Dallyn Lopez made a basket to give Hardin the lead again, Carlson made a free throw to tie the game. Then after a stop, Carlson scored on the fastbreak at the buzzer to give Havre a 38-36 lead.

But the Bulldogs responded with a 6-0 to take a 42-38 lead early in the fourth. The Ponies responded with free throws from Gary and a bucket from Amaya Jarvis to tie the game again. The Ponies and Bulldogs again exchanged scores to make it a 44-44 game with about two and a half minutes left in the game.

Coming down the stretch, Kyanna Jarvis and Sierra Parker both made baskets to give Havre a 48-44 lead. As the game headed into the final 20 seconds, it looked like the Ponies would come away with the win. But the Bulldogs had other plans.

At the free-throw line with 18.1 seconds left, Carlei Plainfeather knocked down both free throws to cut the score to 48-46. Then right after getting a stop, the Bulldogs went back down the court and Aiyanna Big Man made the layup while being fouled. With 2.1 seconds left, Big Man made her free throw to give Hardin a 49-48 lead. The Ponies were then unable to get their shot off and Hardin stole the game.

Big Man led Hardin with 19 points while Kyanna Jarvis was the leading scorer for Havre with 12 points. At the end of the weekend, the Ponies are now 4-3 but are 3-0 to start conference play. While the Ponies had their struggles over the weekend, Kraske believes if they can build off their performance in the second half against Hardin, they will be on the right track.

"If our kids can practice like they played the second half, we're going to keep getting better," Kraske said. "That's why we keep Hardin on our schedule and teams like them such as Billings Central. Just to make us better and we'll learn from this and improve."

The HHS girls basketball team will next play on the road at Fairfield this Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Havre 58, Miles City 49

MC - 14 11 17 7 - 49

HAV - 10 15 24 9 - 58

MC - Riley Smith 17, Lainey Smith 13, Alora Baker 6, Alli Glasscock 5, Jersey Kanduch 2, Jillian Kanduch 2, Camdyn Waterman 2, Heidi Phalen 2.

HAV - Amaya Jarvis 13, Ariana Gary 11, Tierra Parker 10, Sierra Parker 9, Avery Carlson 7, Molly Huse 5, Lizzi Haney 2, Kyanna Jarvis 1.

Hardin 49, Havre 48

HAR - 11 16 9 13 - 49

HAV - 3 14 21 10 - 48

HAR - Aiyanna Big Man 19, Diamond Amyotte 8, Carlei Plainfeather 7, Starry Roundface 5, Katerena Morrison 4, Dallyn Lopez 4, Alexis Morrison 2.

HAV - Kyanna Jarvis 12, Sierra Parker 8, Ariana Gary 8, Avery Carlson 7, Tierra Parker 5, Lizzi Haney 4, Amaya Jarvis 2, Elle Verploegen 2.