New stars ready to shine for area teams

When it comes to the Hi-Line, there may be no sport more universally followed than basketball. From Hays to Chester, local sports fans love hoops season.

With the winter sports season literally just a few days from getting started, it’s a great time to look ahead at what’s coming. Last week, we looked at five things to watch when it came to local wrestling. Today, the focus is girls basketball, which starts games next week.

Basketball programs around this area have always been strong and with teams like Havre, Box Elder, Chinook and Chester-Joplin-Inverness, there looks to be a number of good teams once again in this area.

Storylines abound as the season begins locally with the Native American Classic next week, so before going any further, here are five things to watch this season for girls basketball on the Hi-Line.

Can Havre make it back to the Class A state tournament?

Under head coach Dustin Kraske, the Havre Blue Ponies have been a staple in the Class A state tournament the past few years. In his 10 seasons at the helm of Havre girls basketball, Kraske has led HHS to state nine times, including five straight trips.

However, getting back to state this year may be more difficult than in year’s past, especially with the graduation of All-State standout Dani Wagner, who is now playing at Carroll College.

Wagner, who was second in scoring last season in Class A, was a stellar two-way player and an outstanding rebounder. Replacing her will not be easy to do. Yet the Ponies still have an All-State player on the roster in Naomi Terry, as well as others with starting experience such as Ceyara Plante, Marca Herron, Kristen Nash and Danielle Wallace.

With a solid group of players and his proven ability to get his teams to defend at a high level consistently, it’s hard to bet against Kraske and the Ponies, but having to get through the Eastern A Super Divisional at the end of the season, means getting to state won’t be a walk in the park.

What will the Box Elder girls do as an encore?

The Box Elder Lady Bears put together a remarkable season last year, going undefeated in the regular season en route to the District 9C title. Then all Box Elder did in the postseason was start 8-0, winning the District tournament and the Northern C Divisional in the process. Box Elder was finally stopped by Belt in the state championship game, but still finished an incredible 26-1.

Certainly, the Lady Bears lost some talent from last season, including Tyrah Gopher and Jude The Boy, but there is still plenty of talent for long-time head coach Joel Rosette to work with.

With Tia Russell, Lily Gopher and Minnie The Boy, three players that excelled in the postseason last year, all back, the Bears are the favorite to win the 9C again, but after being the Class C runner-up and making divisionals two years running, the Lady Bears likely have bigger aspirations than another 9C crown.

Naomi Terry, HHS’ next big scorer?

As mentioned earlier, the Pony girls are known for their defensive prowess under coach Kraske and that’s been one of the biggest reasons for their extended run of success. Yet in the past two seasons, Havre has featured some dynamic scorers and a key question facing the Ponies is whether or not Terry can keep that trend going?

Both Wagner and Morgan Mazurkiewicz, who graduated in 2015, finished second in the Class A in scoring after seeing big jumps in their production during their senior seasons. Wagner, who scored 13 points a game as a junior, pushed her average to 18.4 last season. Mazurkiewicz did something similar and scored close to 16 a game when she was a senior.

If Havre is going to remain one of the elite teams in Class A, Terry, a Montana State University-Northern commit, will need to take a similar step forward. And after scoring close to 13 points a game last season, it’s something she’s clearly capable of doing.

Who can challenge Box Elder in the 9C?

Heading into the 2016-17 season, the Box Elder girls are clearly the top dog in the 9C. The questions is, who might be able to challenge them?

The first candidate is the team the Lady Bears beat in the district championship game a year ago, the Chinook Sugarbeeters. The Beeters, who have been a regular participant in the Northern C Divisional, return an experienced team under the direction of third-year head coach Molli Rose.

Chinook lost Brooke Nicholson to graduation, but with Brooke Elliot, Kelsey Mathon and Sierra Swank all back, the Beeters should be difficult to contend with again this season. Another challenger should be CJI, the third-place team in 2016. Led by Korrin Harmon, the Hawks have a promising young team and should be in the mix again this season, along with Fort Benton, which won the District Tournament in 2015.

Young players ready to make an impact

One thing that makes high school sports exciting is the turnover from one year to the next and this year, there is a lot of young emerging talent on the girls basketball scene. One player set for stardom is Lily Gopher, a Box Elder sophomore, who starred at divisionals and state last season. She is set to break out this season, as is Korrin Harmon of CJI, who made seven three-pointers in the 9C consolation to get her team to divisionals.

As far as Havre is concerned, there could be some freshmen who find their way onto the varsity roster as well. The Ponies have a history of freshmen playing early, especially in recent years and it could happen this year thanks to a strong class of newcomers that could end up playing key minutes as the season progresses.