Super Divisional: Havre High girls ready for a new divisional challenge

The Havre High girls basketball team has dominated during divisionals, winning the last four Central A championships. But this year, divisionals are a whole new animal and that means a brand new challenge for the Blue Ponies.

Of course, in previous years, the Blue Ponies pretty much knew they were a shoe-in for the Class A state tournament. But this year, with the increased competition, no team, not even Havre can think that way going in and right now, Havre head coach Dustin Kraske is more concerned about playing another week then adding another trophy to the trophy case.

“I think the way that I have always tried to approach is just to get invited to the next tournament,” Kraske said. “I think that’s where our focus is. I think if you were able to win it, I think you would feel like you really accomplished something, but I think just finishing in the top four and getting to state is a big accomplishment, too.”

For most of the season, it looked like the Ponies were destined to be the top seed out of the Central A. Yet, Browning had other ideas and even though the two teams tied for the regular season title at 7-1, the Indians won the head-to-head tiebreaker. That means, HHS will be the second seed from the Central and they will open the tournament against the third seed from the East, the Laurel Locomotives. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. If the Ponies win, they will play either Billings Central, Livingston or Glendive in the semifinals, which would be Friday at 8 p.m.

“I think we match up with (Laurel) pretty well,” Kraske said. “I know they lost a couple games within their league, but they have Lohof and she’s about 6-0. She’s going to be a handful for us. Their role players are good, they rebound, they play hard. But, I like our kids, I like our team. We have had some ups and down, but our focus is going to be finding the ups and staying there and focusing on the task at hand.”

Abbie Lohof, who Kraske referenced, is not just a handful down low, she might be the best post player in Class A girls basketball. She is fourth in the state in scoring with 16.4 points per game — each of the top four scorers in the state are from the Eastern A — but she is the only player in the state to average more than 10 rebounds a game and she is the only player to average a double-double.

Yet, Laurel (10-8) will have its hands full with Havre’s top offensive weapon and that’s Dani Wagner. Wagner, who is currently second in the Class A in scoring with 18 points a game, could be the most athletically gifted player in the tournament, and Kraske is confident that she can get it done on both ends of the floor, regardless of who she is matched up against.

“She is just the kind of kid that she is going to defend and stop whoever she is guarding,” Kraske said. “She is just a great competitor and she’s going to do a great job for us.”

While the Ponies rely heavily on Wagner for offensive production, they also count on Naomi Terry to put the ball in the basket. And after a solid season in which she averaged 12.33 points per game, ranking eighth in Class A, Terry has proven she can produce in that role, which gives Havre a big advantage going into this weekend.

But, even though Kraske has two capable scorers, he basically scoffed when talking about his offense. He said the real key to victory was going to come down to three simple things: playing good defense, taking care of the basketball and rebounding.

“I am not worried about us offensively,” Kraske said. “I think our kids will do what they are going to do, honestly, but if we can take care of the ball, play good defense and rebound, I think we will have a good chance to win some games.”

Of course, winning one game won’t be enough and any team that hopes to advance to the Class A state tournament will need to win at least two games to get there. And while Billings Central, joins Havre as the favorite on its side of the bracket, the other bracket features some very talented teams such as Hardin, the second seed from the East, Miles City, the third seed from the East and Browning, the top seed from the Central A.

“You have to win two games,” Kraske said. “Doesn’t matter when or how you do it.”

Yet, one thing that will make that more difficult for every team in attendance is the fact that many of these teams will see each other and play each other, for the first time this season.

“We will see how things go,” Kraske said. “But it definitely is going to have a state tournament type of feel to it, in the fact that you will be playing teams that you don’t really know. That’s what you do at state, you see teams you don’t know and you just go and play, and we will have to do that again this weekend.”

In addition to Havre, the other teams that are favorites to advance are Billings Central (17-1), Browning (14-4) and Hardin (12-6), which is the only team to defeat Billings Central this season. Laurel and is also capable of making noise, as is Miles City (9-9), which boasts Class A’s top scorer in Ash Larson, who averages 19.5 points per game. Glendive (4-15), Livingston (6-13) and Lewistown (6-14) are all hoping to play their best and get hot come tournament time.

While Havre will battle Laurel in the opening round and Billings Central will play the winner of Glendive-Livingston, the other quarterfinal matchups feature Hardin, the second seed from the East, against Lewistown, the third seed from the Central. And in the final game, Browning, the top seed from the Central, will battle Miles City, a No. 4 from the East. The two semifinal games will be 6:30 and 8 p.m., Friday night. The championship game will be Saturday at 8 p.m. All games will be held at the Rimrock Auto Arena at the Metra in Billings.

The top four teams from the tournament will move on to the Class A state tournament March 10-12 in Belgrade.