Blue Ponies host Cowgirls in the Corral

At 2-6, the Havre High girls basketball team doesn't have the greatest non-conference record. But most of the losses have come at the hands of highly talented teams. Tonight, the Blue Ponies will play one of the two teams they have beaten out of conference in the Conrad Cowgirls.

After winning six consecutive games to get to 8-4, the Ponies lost back-to-back games to Great Falls High and CMR last week. Tonight, they will look to get back on track at home against Conrad on the night the Ponies will celebrate senior night. Tip-off between Havre and Conrad will take place at 5:30 p.m.

"We really need to focus on coming out and getting better in this game," HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. "We are getting into the grind right now and we are just going through practice each day trying to get ready for our next opponent. But most of the time, it's just to get ourselves better."

Behind a strong game from Dani Wagner, the Ponies cruised to victory in the first meeting between the two teams.Wagner has been outstanding all year long for HHS as she leads the Central A in scoring, while ranking third in the state with an average of 18.07 per game.

Wagner also happens to be Havre's only senior, which means that tonight's game will be her last in the HHS gymnasium. There is actually one more home game on tap for Havre, but it’s being played at the Havre Central Gym later this month.

"Dani has had a great career for us," Kraske said. "She played a little JV ball her freshman year but from the second half of her sophomore until now she has played quite a bit of varsity. She's a nice player for us and has been. She has been part of our program and has been a lot of fun to coach. She has a drive to compete that will be hard to replace. She's a great kid and it's been an honor to coach her."

While Wagner will get one last chance to shine in the Pony Corral, if the Ponies want to earn a victory, they will need to get offense from others, as well, such as Naomi Terry who is fourth in the Central A with 12.36 per game.

Danielle Wallace, Marca Herron, Kristen Nash and Ceyara Plante are others that will need to step up offensively for the Ponies, not just against Conrad, but at the Central A divisional.

"We have to continue to do little things better or do the appropriate thing," Kraske said. "We need to know how to read the defense better and we just have things that we need to do. So it will be good fur us."

While Kraske will be looking for more well-rounded play from his offense against the Cowgirls, he will also be expecting his defense to be the height of its game. Conrad has struggled on offense this season and scored more than 30 points only a handful of times. And with the Pony defense playing as well as it has all season, that should spell trouble for the Conrad offense.

"We just need to make sure that we are doing the things that we need to in order to get better," Kraske said. "We want to be playing our best at the end of the year and that's what we are working towards."

The Ponies and Cowgirls will tip-off tonight at 5:30 p.m. Tonight’s game is Havre’s only game this week.