Blue Pony girls complete a perfect Central A regular season

The Havre High boys basketball team played Browning Saturday in a game that was essentially meaningless in the standings.

But, when things were all said and done in the HHS gymnasium, the Blue Ponies had to have some concern about the outcome.

Havre, which will meet Browning this Friday in the semifinals of the Central A divisionals in Great Falls, will need to play much better than it did Saturday against the Indians, who came to Havre and scored an impressive road win by the score of 65-41.

With the loss, the Ponies fell to 12-6 on the season and 4-4 in the Central A, which puts them at third place in the final standings. Browning finished 10-8 overall with the win and 5-3 in conference play, placing them second. ahead of HHS.

In the beginning things looked good for Havre as HHS got off to a positive start with a Nate Rismon 3-pointer that gave the Ponies an early lead and at the end of the first quarter, HHS had a 9-7 advantage. In the second, the Havre lead got even bigger and after a pair of Dane Warp free throws with 3:47 to go in the half, the Ponies held a 20-13 lead. However, Browning would battle back and by halftime, HHS led just 25-22.

In the third, things still looked promising for Havre as the Ponies jumped ahead 30-24 after another trey by Rismon. Yet, that’s when the game changed. Browning started forcing Havre into turnovers and got a number of easy baskets in transition. Those layups helped spark a 15-3 run to end the third, which put the Indians in front 39-33 going into the final stanza.

The fourth quarter was even worse for Havre as the Indians outscored the Ponies, 24-8 in the final eight minutes to put an exclamation point on a resounding 22-point victory.

“I think you saw an example of letting your offense affect your defense,” HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. “I think we missed some shots and had some things not go our way on offense and we let that affect the way that we played defense and that’s something that can’t happen.

“I think we just lost our confidence,” Leeds said. “And that led to some turnovers. But we didn’t want to show any plays our anything like that so we just tried to run our motion offense. So that would have been a way for us to get some confidence when we really needed it.”

Warp still led all scorers in the loss for Havre with 21 points. Rismon contributed with 10. Joe Bremner led the way for Browning with 15 points. Weston Mad Plume added 14 and Josh Monroe had eight.

Havre and Browning will meet again this Friday in the Central A divisional tournament in Great Falls.

While the boys played Browning at home, the Havre High girls basketball team took its show on the road to Browning to take on the Indians in search of a perfect finish in conference play.

The Ponies, who have achieved a lot under head coach Dustin Kraske, knocked off Browning 55-44 in Browning Saturday night to go undefeated in the Central A at 8-0 for the first time in his tenure.

For most of the game, the Indians gave the Ponies all they could handle, trailing by just one, 14-13, at the end of the first quarter and actually taking a lead at the half over HHS, 27-26. But in the third quarter, Havre took over.

Morgan Mazurkiewicz scored eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers to help Havre outscore Browning 14-9 in the third to reclaim a 40-36 advantage going into the final stanza.

Then, the Havre defense dominated. Browning scored just four points over the final eight minutes and because of that the Ponies captured the 55-44 win. The victory gets them their 14th regular season win at 14-4 and the undefeated record in the Central A at 8-0.

Mazurkiewicz was stellar in the win for Havre with 29 points. Dani Wagner added 16 and Naomi Terry had seven.

“We don’t really talk about it (going undefeated),” HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. “It’s good for the kids, I am proud of them. Morgan did what she always does. But Dani Wagner had a heck of a performance on defense. She was all over the place. It was special.

“But really we did what we expected to do,” he added. “I like where we are at. I like how focused we are, and I think we are playing our best basketball right now going into divisionals.”

The Havre girls will also begin play in the Central A divisionals Friday in Great Falls, they will face either Livingston or Belgrade in the semifinals.

Browning 63, Havre 41 (Boys)

Browning 7 15 17 24 - 63

Havre 9 16 8 8 - 41

Browning - Joe Bremmer 15, Alonzo SkunkCap 5, Kobe Red Horn 2, Joe St. Goddard 5, Caleb Old Chief 7, Josh Monroe 8, Tristen Red Horn 2, Weston Mad Plume 14, Ryan Loring 5. Totals: 26 7-12.

Havre - Nate Rismon 10, Nate Korb 1, Dane Warp 21, Jacob LaBrie 3, Nichael Bakke 3, Jase Kato 3. Totals: 13 9-18.

3-pointers - SkunkCap, St. Goddard, Old Chief, Mad Plume, Rismon 3, Warp 2, LaBrie. Total fouls - Browning 17, Havre 10.

Havre 55, Browning 44 (Girls)

Havre 14 12 14 15 – 55

Browning 13 14 9 4 – 44

Havre – Morgan Mazurkiewicz 29, Dani Wagner 16, Naomi Terry 7, Lindsey Kudrna 2, Kristen Nash 2,