George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
After a stellar season on the court, which culminated with a fourth-place finish at the Class A state tournament last Saturday in Hamilton, the Havre High girls were well-represented in the Central A postseason awards. HHS, which won the Central A regular season championship while finishing second at the Central A divisional tournament, had four players earn allconference this year, highlighted by Class A All-State senior Katie Mariani. Mariani was named Central A First- Team All-Conference for the second straight season, and as one of the top three vote-getters from the Central A, Mariani also earns Class A All-State honors for the first time in her career. Mariani averaged close to 12 points and six rebounds per game for the Blue Ponies in her final season. Joining Mariani on the first team was junior Hope Hedges. Hedges had a solid season, and was among the league leaders in both steals and assists, while averaging nearly nine points per game. S e n i o r s Steph Stremcha and Tricia Samson also earned a l l - c o n f e r e n c e honors. Stremcha was named to the second team, after coming on strong in the second half of the season. Stremcha averaged almost 10 points and was among the league-leaders in rebounds this season. Samson was also one of HHS's top shooters while averaging nearly eight points per game for the Blue Ponies. Joining Mariani and Hedges on the first team were Livingston's Sage Indendi, Butte Central's Brooke Pokorny and Lewistown's Josie Sweeny. Indendi and Pokorny were also named all-state this season. HHS had the most girls named to the all-conference team. On the boys side, Havre had just one all-conference selection in junior Mike Hickman, who led the Ponies in scoring, and was among the league-leaders in assists. Hickman earned second-team honors in his first year as a starter at HHS. The first team consisted of Browning's DJ Fish and Andrew Spotted Wolfe, Butte Central's Matt Ritter and Tanner Neuman, Livingston's Rex Allen and Lewistown's Craig Nelson. Fish, Ritter and Nelson earned Class A All-State honors, and Fish and Ritter were all-state for the second straight season. Butte Central and Lewistown had the most all-conference selections with four each, while Class A state champion Browning had three.
