Havre girls cruise into Eastern A semifinals

One down, two to go for the Havre High girls basketball team.

Coming into Billings as a heavy favorite to claim the Eastern A girls divisional championship, the Blue Ponies wasted little time in getting the tourney started on the right foot, as they pounded Miles City 65-45 Wednesday night at Rimrock Auto Arena.

The win not only pushed the Blue Ponies to 19-0 on the season, but, also into the semifinals, where they'll take on either Laurel or Lewistown Friday night.

"I'm glad we have a day off," Havre coach Dustin Kraske said to the Billings Gazette. "I'm not a big fan of that because we're missing a day of school unnecessarily in some aspects. However, for us to have a long day, play hard, we can just practice and watch our boys play tomorrow and that will be kind of nice, too."

Havre deserves a day off, especially after punishing the Cowgirls from start to finish. The Ponies scored 21 points in the first quarter, leading 21-12. Then, as Havre has done all season, the Ponies turned up the defensive pressure, holding Miles City, which beat Sidney Wednesday morning, to just eight points in the second. Havre held a 37-20 lead at intermission and never looked back.

Offensively, Havre shot a scorching 58 percent, with Kyndall Keller scoring 11, while the trio of Kadia Miller, Danielle Wallace and Kyley Verploegen each added 10 points. Defensively, the Ponies' pressure forced Miles City into 21 turnovers.

Havre will await the winner of this morning's first-round game between Laurel and Lewistown in the semifinals, which will be played Friday at 8 p.m. The Eastern A championship game is set for Saturday at 8 p.m.

Havre 65, Miles City 45

Miles City 12 8 16 9 — 45

Havre 21 16 17 11 — 65

Miles City: Bailee Murnion 2, McKenzie Taylor 3, McKenna Friend 1, Kyra Oakland 9, Dezi Chamberlin 2, Morgan Johnstone 2, Madison Rask 13, Mackenzie Rask 13.

Havre: Ryen Olson 5, Kyndall Keller 11, Kaylee Nystrom 8, Kadia Miller 10, Marca Herron 9, Katie Wirtzberger 2, Danielle Wallace 10, Kyley Verploegen 10.

Cowboys edge Pony boys

The struggles of the Havre High boys basketball team in 2017-18, mirror that of last season, all the way down to the opponent at the Eastern A Divisional.

The Blue Ponies played Miles City in the opening game at divisionals last season and dropped a close game in overtime after losing a late lead. And Wednesday, at the Rimrock Auto Arena at the Metra, Havre had a bout of deja vu, as the Cowboys overcame a four-point deficit in the final two minutes to oust Havre from the winner’s bracket with a 45-43 win.

With just a few minutes left in the game, the Ponies were in a position to move onto the quarterfinals. Two buckets from Jacob Irvin and another from Trey Murphy had the Ponies in front 43-39, with just over two minutes to go in regulation. Yet, Miles City tied the game up and Kaden Stradley of the Cowboys drew a foul with just 5.4 seconds to go. And ultimately, he made both free throws, despite throwing up on the floor after the first attempt.

Following a timeout, Stadley made the second free throw, putting the Cowboys in front by two. Havre still had five seconds, but turned the ball over and didn’t attempt a shot that could have tied or won the game. The Ponies are now 3-16 on the season and will play Sidney tonight at 5 to keep their season alive.

“We had a chance to get a couple stops and a get a couple of buckets that would have really helped us and we just couldn’t get them,” HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. “But I thought our kids played really hard. They played well together and that was as good a game as we have played all season offensively.”

Havre fell behind early to Miles City 9-5, but a 3-pointer with the clock running down in the first quarter by Tommy Brown got the Ponies within one, 11-10. Stradley scored seven points early in the second quarter to give the Cowboys a 20-15 advantage, but an 8-0 run to close the first half gave the Ponies a 23-22 lead after two quarters of play.

In the third quarter, Havre pushed its lead to as many as five points, following a bucket from Brown, plus two steals and two layups by Ivar Aageson, which gave HHS a 31-26 lead. Yet, a 7-2 run by the Cowboys, tied the score at 33-33 heading into the fourth.

Trey Murphy put the Ponies in front early in the fourth with a layup, 37-35. Then another bucket by Murphy and two more from Irvin put Havre up four with just over two minutes to play. Yet, it would be the last score of the game for the Ponies, who would go on to lose by two, after a 6-0 run by Miles City to end the game.

Brown, a junior, led all scorers for Havre with 11 points. Irvin, a senior, also reached double figures with 10 in the loss. Havre and Sidney will meet tonight at 5 in Billings. The winner stays alive in the divisional tournament, the loser goes home, for the rest of the season.

“I think if we play the way we did against Miles City, we will have a good chance,” Leeds said. “We really played together and did a nice job of sharing the basketball. If we can play a little better defense, we should be able to have some success.”

Miles City 45, Havre 43

Miles City 11 11 11 12 - 45

Havre 10 13 10 10 - 43

Miles City: Gabe Gundlach 2, Kaden Stradley 20, Jess Bellows 3, Steven Ray 17, Jayden Venable 3.

Havre: Tanner Parsons 8, Jacob Irvin 10, Thomas Brown 11, Ivar Aageson 8, Trey Murphy 6.