By Tiffany L. Rehbein
The Havre Blue Ponies girls basketball team needed helmets with chinstraps in the 47-39 victory over the Glasgow Scotties Saturday at the Blue Pony Corral.
It was very physical and thats the style of basketball Glasgow plays, head coach Dennis Murphy said. They slow it down and its very physical. Its the only way Glasgow could have played with us. That was their game plan.
With fewer than 60 seconds ticked off the clock, Glasgow notched two fouls to open the contest.
After 32 minutes of play, the Scotties had tallied 30 team fouls, fouled out three players, and head coach Todd Glaser was hit with a technical foul on the bench.
The Ponies went to the free throw line 34 times in the contest, shooting 53 percent.
Sophomore Amy Ranes scored the first points of the game off an assist from senior Tiffany Shrauger for the Blue Ponies.
Senior Erin Patera, Nikki Baltrusch and Shrauger each chipped in two points in the balanced first-quarter scoring attack.
Havre led throughout the quarter, and junior Alyssa Matter scaled the court and hit a power lay-up with :03 remaining in the quarter to lift the Ponies to a 10-7 lead after one quarter.
Glasgows Jennie Strommen opened the second quarter with a bucket and narrowed the Pony lead to 10-9. Strommen finished with six points in the contest.
With 5:57 remaining in the quarter, sophomore Jeri Matter hit a free throw to lift the Ponies 11-9. Matter had eight in the balanced Blue Pony scoring attack.
But Havre would not score again for more than four minutes, while Glasgow worked its way to a 15-12 lead. The Scotties outscored the Ponies 15-8 in the quarter and were up 22-18 going into the locker room.
Glasgow committed two turnovers to open the third quarter, while Alyssa Matter and Shrauger each nailed a 3-pointer to lift the Ponies to a 24-22 lead.
With fewer than three minutes remaining, the Scotties regained the lead when senior Tonya Bergren hit a shot inside. Two plays later, she grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to widen the Glasgow lead to 29-26. Bergren had eight in the effort to lead the Scotties offensively.
Havre junior LaShae Michels came off the bench and sank two free throws with :04 remaining in the third to narrow the Glasgow lead to 31-28 going into the fourth.
Glasgows Kodi Malnaa opened the fourth with a bucket for Glasgow and increased the lead to 32-28. Malnaa also tallied eight points in the contest.
However, Havres press wore down the Scotties in the end. The Scotties committed 24 turnovers in the game, 13 of which were caused by the Pony press, six coming in the fourth quarter.
Alyssa Matter sparked the Ponies with 6:06 remaining in the game when, out of the press, she knocked a pass down and was fouled on the ensuing lay-up. She connected on the second half of the two-shot free throw and narrowed the Scottie lead to 32-29.
With 5:53 remaining, Glasgows Strommen was charged with an offensive foul and collected her fourth foul, while Glaser collected a technical from the bench.
I think the refs (Matt Kleinsasser and Tim Callahan) handled that game pretty well, Murphy said. There are two different styles of play. One is up and down and one is slow. I think the refs did a nice job in that aspect of it.
Alyssa Matter hit 1-of-2 technical shots and nailed a basket from the top of the key on the ensuing ball-in-hand to Havre. The points lifted the Ponies to a one-point lead with 5:40 remaining.
With 4:14 on the clock, Glasgows Bergren fouled out of the game, while Patera hit a free throw. Patera notched nine in the contest.
After a Glasgow turnover caused by the Pony press, Jeri Matter scored inside for Havre to lift the Ponies to a 38-37 lead.
In the final three minutes of play, Glasgow scored only two points, while Havre hit 7-of-12 free throws to sew up the victory. Overall, they went 18-of-34 from the line.
We did a great job at the end of the game, Murphy said. The key was the press again.
Friday at Fort Benton, the Blue Ponies put together their best effort of the season in a 70-43 win over the Longhorns in non-conference action.
Every Blue Pony scored in the effort, led by Patera with 15. Baltrusch and Jeri Matter each added 11, while Alyssa Matter chipped in 10 points in the contest.
The Ponies shot 55 percent from the floor, scored 70 points, shot 67 percent from the 3-point line, behind the shooting of Sam Velk and Jeri Matter, shot 71 percent from the free throw line and caused 28 turnovers.
It was a game where we were on, Murphy said. Everything for us clicked. We had great defensive pressure, good movement offensively; everyone contributed. We clicked on all four cylinders.
The Ponies, 10-2, meet Central A opponent Lewistown on the road Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Havre
10
8 10 19
47
Glasgow
7
15 9 8
39
Havre Nikki Baltrusch, 1 2-3 4; Lashae Michels, 0 2-2 2; Tiffany Shrauger, 1 5-10 10; Alyssa Matter, 2 5-8 12; Erin Patera, 2 2-4 9; Jeri Matter, 3 2-4 8; Amy Ranes, 1 0-3 2; Totals: 10 18-34 47; Three pointers: 13 (Shrauger, Matter, Patera; Total Fouls: 19; Fouled out: Baltrusch
Glasgow K. Malnaa, 2 4-8 8; A. Garden, 0 1-3 7; J. Rice,0 3-4 4; J. Stromman, 3 0-2 6; T. Partridge. 0 0-2 0; R. Chandler, 2 3-4 7; Tanya Bergren, 3 2-3 8; Totals: 10 18-34 37; Three pointers: 2; Totals fouls: 29; Fouled out: Stromman, Chandler, Bergren
