Blue Ponies look to keep up winning streak

The Havre High girls basketball team has found its stride of late with a seven-game winning streak. Now this weekend, the Blue Ponies will look to extend that streak when they play Fairfield tonight at Havre High Gymnasium and then Browning on the road Saturday to wrap up the regular season.

Before their game against Fairfield tonight, the Ponies will hold their senior night to honor the likes of Yelena Miller, Avery Carlson, Lizzi Haney, Molly Huse and Danni Wirtzberger. These seniors have been a part of great success for the Ponies over the years, including two straight Class A State championships.

"They've meant everything to our program," HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. "They've been through a lot of wonderful moments and memories of our program. All they do is work to contribute and do the best job that they can do to help our team be successful and we're going to miss them a lot."

In their final home game of the regular season, the Ponies will play Fairfield. The Eagles come into the game with a record of 6-5. In Fairfield last month, the Ponies picked up a 64-35 win over the Eagles. Toryn Martinez led Fairfield with 13 points in the loss. While the Ponies have already gotten the better of Fairfield this year, Kraske looks forward to seeing what happens tonight.

"Fairfield's got a nice team. They're doing a good job over there," Kraske said. "It's going to be a fun evening to watch our seniors play together and to have our team continue to get better here for the end of the year."

The Ponies will then head on the road to play Browning to end the regular season. The Indians are having a strong season with a 16-0 record, so both squads will enter the game playing some great basketball.

"It'll be two really good teams playing a basketball game," Kraske said. "I just think the place is going to be a wonderful atmosphere to play a wonderful game."

The Indians have many players whom the Ponies will need to slow down. Mecca Bullchild is having a strong year averaging 14.5 points a game on 42.3 percent shooting from the field. Lish Spoonhunter will look to get going as she averages 11.1 points and 7.5 rebounds a game this year.

This will be another rematch as Bowning defeated Havre, 59-58, at HHS Gymnasium last month. Spoonhunter and Bullchild got rolling with a combined 30 points in that contest. But the Ponies have not lost since that game, so they will be looking to hand the Indians their first loss of the season.

"I'd like to think that we're playing better. Our kids are learning their positions and how to play with one another," Kraske said. "I think Browning and Fairfield have also improved so I just think it'll be better basketball and that'll be fun to watch."

The Ponies enter the weekend with a record of 12-4 this season thanks to contributions from many players. Over the course of this season, Amaya Jarvis has averaged 15 points a game while Ariana Gary has contributed about 9.7 points a game. Since her return, Miller has averaged 11.6 points a game in her three games back.

With the Eastern A Divisional coming up in a few weeks, the Ponies will look to use these games as one last chance to improve. While the Ponies have been playing their best basketball lately, Kraske still sees room for improvement before the postseason.

"I'd like us to continue to work on our possession mindset," Kraske said. "Be it defensively or offensively, we really need to understand the preciousness of each possession and what they mean for the outcome of the game."

The HHS girls basketball team will tip off against Fairfield tonight at 6 p.m. The Ponies will then play on the road against Browning Saturday at 4 p.m.