By George Ferguson/Havre Daily News Sports/gferguson@havredailynews.com
It might have been the luck of the Irish, or it might have been that a third time wasn't a charm. But whatever it is, it has been on the side of the Butte Central Maroons when it comes to playing the Havre Blue Ponies.
On Wednesday night in the opening round of the Central A girls divisional basketball tournament in Belgrade, the Maroons stormed back from a 15-point second-half deficit to knock off the Havre high girls basketball team, 43-39, and advance to Thursday afternoon's semifinal round.
Having lost twice to the Maroons this season in large part because of poor play in the first half, Havre did exactly what it needed to do on Wednesday night. The Ponies edged out in front of the Maroons early and held strong throughout a low scoring first half that wound up tied at 15-15.
"The slow start by both teams was to be expected," said HHS head coach Jason Wirt from Belgrade. "You're always going to have some nerves in the first game of the divisional tournament."
Havre's nerves were long gone by the time the two teams stepped on the floor to start the second half. The Ponies raced out of the half like gangbusters, scoring 15 uanswered points to take a 30-15 lead with less than two minutes to play in the period. And although the Maroons closed the quarter with six straight points, Wirt was feeling very good heading into the final stanza.
But the his feelings would go from good to bad in a matter of minutes as the Maroons caught fire and went on a 16-0 run to in the fourth quarter that did the Ponies in. The run was sparked by the hot shooting of junior guard Jodi Hogart, as well as forward Jordan Kambich. By the time the carnage was over, the Maroons had their third win over Havre and a trip to the semifinals where they will face Browning today at 5:00 p.m.
"Butte Central just got hot and hit some big shots," Wirt said. "It seemed like for a time that they could not miss.
"I think when we were up by 15 points we got impatient," he added. "We rushed some shots and made some bad decisions and at the same time they just caught fire."
Havre's loss was not without a heroic effort from junior Steph Flatau. Flatau scored 11 points but also hauled in a remarkable 20 rebounds, which accounted for almost half of the Ponies 43 team boards.
"What Steph did tonight was unbelievable," Wirt said. "If she isn't a first team all-state player then I don't know who is."
The Maroons were paced by Kambich's game-high 17 points and they also got 10 points from Brenna Mannion.
While the loss is disappointing for the beleagured Blue Ponies, their season is far from over. Havre will have to wait until Friday night before the play in loser-out action against the loser of the Lewistown/Belgrade semifinal game tonight.
"I think that we are still okay," Wirt said. "If we were going to drop a game than this is the one would be okay because now we can challenge anybody except Butte Central.
"We just have to get past this and go practice and get ready to play on Friday night."
Butte Central 43, Havre 39
Butte Central 7 8 6 22 - 43
Havre 6 9 16 8 - 39
Butte Central (10-9)
Brenna Manion 5 0-0 10, Jodi Hogart 2 0-1 5, Britney Brophy 3 0-0 7, Jordan Kambich 5 5-7 16, Kiley Pendergast 0 2-4 2, Katie Shovlin 1 0-3 3, Hannah Manion 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 7-15.
Havre (8-10)
Amy McLain 2 1-3 5, Stephanie Flatau 4 3-6 11, Alexa Lipp 4 4-6 13, Justine Erhard 2 1-2 6, Keelie Solomon 0 0-0 0, Whitney Barnekoff 0 0-0 0, Rebecca Hilliad 2 0-0 4. Totals: 14 9-17.
3-point goals - BC 4-12 (Manion 0-1, Hogart 1-5, Brophy 1-2, Kambich 1-3, Shovlin 1-10, Havre 2-12 (McLain 0-2, Flatau 0-1, Lipp 1-4, Erhard 1-3). Rebounds - BC 26 (Kambich 8, Manion 6), Havre 43 (Flatau 20). Assists - BC 12 (Hogart 5, Manion 4), Havre 9 (McLain 4). Steals - BC 10 (Manion 3), Havre 3 (Three with 1). Blocks - BC 1 (Brophy 1), Havre 2 (Solomon, Hilliad). Turonovers - BC 6, Havre 17. Fouls - BC 15, Havre 18. Fouled out - none. Technicals - none.
Belgrade 43, Livingston 41
Belgrade 6 9 16 12 - 43
Livingston 6 11 12 12 - 41
BELGRADE (9-10)
Necia Knuchel 3-7 0-0 7, Rachel Frost 1-3 0-1 2, Keri Hein 6-12 1-3 15, Hannah Benson 2-10 2-3 6, Jenn Smith 5-9 1-5 11, Jessica Kallestad 0-1 0-0 0, Elizabeth Coughlin 1-2 0-0 2, Amy Bolen 0-3 0-0 0, Jaylene Spanning 0-4 0-0 0, Lyndsay Marks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-51 4-12 43.
LIVINGSTON (7-12)
Sage Indendi 4-13 0-1 8, Agnes Kestin 0-0 0-0 0, Brianna Ackerman 1-5 0-0 2, Cissy Story 2-5 0-0 4, Shannon Bosley 7-11 5-6 19, Jessica Payne 0-0 0-0 0, Sara Meyer 4-7 0-0 8, Alicia Evanson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-42 5-7 41.
3-point goals - Belgrade 3-9 (Knuchel 1-3, Hein 2-2, Spannin 0-1, Smith 0-1), Livingston 0-5 (Indendi 0-4, Ackerman 0-1). Rebounds - Belgrade 28 Coughlin 5), Livingston 31 (Meyer 9). Assists - Belgrade 13 (Knuchel 4), Livingston 9 (Indendi 4). Steals - Belgrade 13 (Frost 5), Livingston 8 Indendi 2, Story 2). Blocks - Belgrade 3 (Coughlin, Hein, Benson), Livingston 3 (Indendi, Story, Bosley). Turnovers - Belgrade 17, Livingston 22. Fouls - Belgrade 10, Livingston 14. Fouled out - none. Technicals - none.
