The Havre High girls basketball team had steadily gotten better since the season began, but also having their share of struggles, the Blue Ponies turned in another off night.  On Tuesday night the Central A Ponies hosted the No.  1, undefeated Class B Malta M-Ettes at the Havre High gymnasium.  And keeping their undefeated streak alive, the M-Ettes defeated the Ponies 52-34, beating the Ponies for the second time this season.  “Malta played better than us,” Havre High head coach Dustin Kraske said.  “They played well and (Bobbi) Knudson is a great kid.” Knudson gave the Ponies trouble all night.  She went 4-of-6 from behind the 3-point arc and led all scorers with 20 points.  Knudson also finished 2-of-2 from the free-throw-line.  Also giving the Ponies trouble from the very start was the Malta defense.  For the majority of the contest the M-Ettes defense ran a full court pressure, and ran it well.  But where they caused the most problems was in the half court, picking up the Pony offense well outside the 3-point line.  In the first quarter the Ponies were held to just six points while the Mettes put up 12.  HHS also committed 13 turnovers in the opening eight minutes while Malta turned the ball over just six times.  The pressure continued in the second quarter, causing the Ponies to turn the ball over six more times.  And while the M-Ettes turned the ball over only twice, they outscored the Ponies 15-7 to stretch the halftime lead to 27-13.  “That’s not how you win it, it’s too many (turnovers),” Kraske said.  “They were a little bit too quick for us.  We held the ball too much and didn’t quite do what we were supposed to.” In the second half the Ponies couldn’t close the gap.  They were outscored 25-21 including a 17-9 outscoring in the third quarter.  Cassi Darrah led the Ponies with 12 points on the night.  But as the Ponies struggled to work the ball into the post, Paighton Gilman and Hayley Donovan combined for only 11 points.  Cali Freier also finished with five while Christina Mack finished with four.  “Their guards I thought were a lot more active than ours,” Kraske said.  “They did a really good job defending us and they helped in the post quite a bit.  Our kids struggled with that, they got up and pressured us and sometimes we struggle with that.” HHS remained 3-4 in the Central A, but fell to 4-10 overall.  On Friday the Ponies will face Lewistown on the road, but will return home on Saturday to face the Butte Central Maroons.