By Alan Sorensen
The Blue Pony cagers face a monumental task this weekend.
When the Havre High girls take to the court Friday night in Browning, they'll be facing an opponent with a burning desire for revenge.
The two teams met in the Blue Pony Corral last week with the Ponies stampeding the Indians 49 to 29.
Then Saturday night, the Ponies welcome the Malta Mustangs to the Blue Pony Corral. Both varsity games tip off at 7:30 p.m.
"The quality of competition is real good this weekend," head coach Dennis Murphy said. "We played extremely well against Browning, and I don't think they played that well. I think they are going to be much more fired up to play us the second time around.
"Obviously with a 12-2 record, they are a good team. They have good inside players. We were able to control them pretty well the first time around, and we'll have to do that again the second time around if we expect to be with them at the end."
Murphy said the Ponies will focus on their stingy defense against their Central A conference rival Friday.
"We're going to stay with our full press, because of their size," Murphy said. "I think our full court pressure will help keep the ball out of the inside. Their guards do a good job, but our guards are a little quicker than their guards. That will be our strength against their weakness, a little bit."
Saturday's matchup with Malta will be an opportunity for the Blue Ponies to grab some revenge of their own.
"The first time we played Malta, which seems a long time ago, they played exceptionally well," Murphy said. "They have an outstanding player in Julianne Keller, but it really wasn't Julianne who hurt us that bad the first time, it was all of her supporting cast.
"We need to keep Julianne from having a big game, but we must also concentrate on not letting the rest of her teammates have the type of game they had last time."
Murphy said all four teams were heading for Browning today freshman, B squad, JV and varsity. Only the freshman, JV and varsity will face Malta Saturday.
