State Tourney Time: Ponies hope to mine gold in Butte

Getting to the Class A state tournament has become old hat for the Havre High girls basketball team. What never becomes old hat is winning trophies, which is the top goal for the Blue Ponies this week.

When the eight teams convene in Butte at the Butte Civic Center this week for the Class A girls tournament, it will be the 10th time in 11 years Havre has been a part of it. The Ponies will join a number of other returning teams, in a field that is filled with quality squads. HHS will open its tournament today at 2:00 p.m., against Butte Central, the defending Class A state champions.

“I have told the kids all year, that I think we are the top four or five team in the state,” HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. “It’s really just going to depend on how well we play. But I think that state tournament is a reward for all the hard work these kids have put in since last summer. We are going to go down and play the best basketball that we can.”

When it comes to Havre’s opening-round matchup, it will prove to be anything but easy. The Ponies actually come in as the higher seed, seeing as they are the two seed from the East, but Butte Central, the third-seed out of the West, will have the home-court advantage. The Maroons also have two of the best individual players in the state in Emily St. John and Mollie Peoples.

Peoples leads all of Class A girls basketball in scoring with 18.5 points per game, while St. John is fifth with an average of 15.6. Kloie Thatcher also averages 9.8 points per night.

“It is what it is,” Kraske said about playing the Maroons in Butte. “They have three pretty salty guards that are going to be a challenge for us, but it’s going to be fun. We are happy to have the opportunity. I don’t really think about where the game is, maybe I should. But it’s not where they play most of their games, so it’s not that big a deal. I think at this point in the season, you just try to play your best. No one is really playing in their home gym. The fan base it what it is, so we are just going to go down and play.”

The truly dangerous thing about Peoples, is not just her ability to score, but her skill beyond the 3-point line. In 18 games and 84 attempts during the regular season, she knocked down 41 percent of her treys, which ranked third in the state. St. John isn’t as good outside, as she is just a 28-percent shooter from deep, but inside the arc, she’s deadly, boasting the fourth-highest percentage on 2-pointers in Class A at 59.6 percent. Tricia Joyce is another threat for Butte Central and like Peoples, she is a threat from beyond the arc. She made 40.9 percent on 44 attempts during the season.

“I think our goal is going to be the same,” Kraske said about defending the Maroons. “We want to sit down and keep people in front of us. We want to try to make them earn it and shoot over us and rebound. I don’t see us changing too much. Maybe we are stubborn, but I am not a fan of (changing) that. We are just going to do what we have been doing and try to do it well.”

When Havre has the ball, Naomi Terry is going to be the key to the offense. She finished the season as the eighth-leading scorer in the state with an average of 14.6 per game. Terry is an effective long-range shooter at 35.6 percent and in terms of 3-point makes, only Cydney Finberg of Columbia Falls and Rylee Clark of Laurel have more.

Another key player for Havre will be freshman Kyndall Keller, who will be playing in her first state tournament after an excellent first season for HHS. She averaged 12.1 points during the year and was also second on the team in rebounds at 4.9. Inside, Havre will look to Danielle Wallace (5.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg) for a scoring presence, while Ceyara Plante (7 ppg) and Kaylee Nystrom, who averaged more than three steals a game as Havre’s defensive stopper, will also be vital.

“I think we are right there,” Kraske said. “Even when we don’t play very well, we have found ways to win. It isn’t like we are going to go down there and try to prove that we belong there, we have been there enough for that. We are just going to go play to the best of our ability and then we will be happy with the results.”

If Havre beats Butte Central, the Ponies would play the winner of Columbia Falls, the top seed from the West and the prohibitive favorite in the tournament, or Laurel, the No. 4 from the East. The Wildcats come in with a 20-1 record, but suffered their only loss to Class AA foe Missoula Sentinel.

Other than that, Columbia Falls has dominated against Class A teams, and have Kiara Burlage (15.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg), Peyton Kehr (14.1 ppg), Dani Douglas (11.3 ppg) and Finberg (10.8), who is the top 3-point shooter in the state at 45 percent. So it’s not hard to see why the Wildkats are so tough. Laurel, who lost to Havre in the Eastern A semifinals, will be led by Ellie Kildahl.

The other side of the bracket features Hardin, the top seed from the East. Like C-Falls, the Bulldogs lost just once this season, although it came to a Class A team in Billings Central. However, that came in the third game of the season and since, and the Bulldogs (20-1) have won 18 straight and have done so thanks to a loaded team that includes Madisan Chavez (14.7 ppg), Karissa Dunshane (13.1 ppg) and Trahnea Phelan (11.8 ppg).

Hardin will face Hamilton in the nightcap Thursday at 8 p.m. The other game Thursday night will feature Corvallis, the second-seeded team from the West, against Belgrade the top seed from the East. That game will tip off at 6:30 p.m.

The four winners Thursday will meet in the semifinals Friday night in at 6:30 and 8 p.m. The consolation game will take place Saturday night at 6:30 p.m., followed by the state championship game at 8. Havre and Butte Central will tip off today at 2:00 p.m. and all the state tourney action takes place inside the Butte Civic Center.