Strike Gold: Ponies advance

The Havre High girls basketball team faced a daunting challenge Thursday, taking on the defending state champions in their hometown right off the bat.

Yet it was the Blue Ponies, not the Butte Central Maroons, that looked at home in the Butte Civic Center, as Havre led wire-to-wire for an opening-round, 55-41 victory in the quarterfinals of the Class A state tournament.

“The kids played great,” HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. “They executed our gameplan very well.”

The win puts HHS (16-6) into the semifinals, where the Ponies will play Columbia Falls at the state tournament for the third straight year. The Wildcats, who downed Laurel with ease, won the two previous meetings in 2015 loser-out action and the 2016 quarterfinals.

“I would like to change that,” Kraske said of the back-to-back losses. “They are a very good team. They have four really good players and some good role players. It’s going to be a big challenge for us. We are looking forward to it.”

Tip-off between the one-loss Wildcats (21-1) and the Ponies, will be tonight at 6:30. The winner will play Saturday night in the Class A state championship.

But in order to get that chance against Columbia Falls tonight, Havre had to first get past a proven Butte Central team with two of the five top scorers in the state.

“It gives us the chance to be in the semifinals,” Kraske said of beating Butte Central. “As far as this year goes, it’s our biggest win.”

If the Ponies were intimidated at all by playing what was essentially a road game at the state tournament, they didn’t act like it. Senior Naomi Terry set the tone early with a 3-pointer that gave HHS a 3-0 lead and from there Havre didn’t trail.

A trey by Ceyara Plante gave Havre a 10-4 lead early in the opening stanza and after eight minutes Havre led by four.

“The kids came out and executed some nice sets early,” Kraske said. “But that was crucial. That set the tone for the game.”

In the second quarter, the Ponies flexed their defensive muscle. Butte Central went almost the entire stanza without a field goal, while a Kyndall Keller three put Havre up 24-15 late in the half. At the break, the Ponies were in front 26-17.

“She was really calm before the game,” Kraske said of Keller, who scored 17 points in her first state tournament game. “That was good to see. It was a pretty good night for your first game as a freshman at the state tournament.”

Two buckets from Terry and four points from Keller in the opening minutes of the third quarter extended the Havre lead to 38-25, before Butte Central trimmed it to 40-31 with only the fourth quarter left to play.

In the final stanza, the Maroons made a run. After a hoop by Emily St. John and two free throws by her, Butte Central trailed just 41-37 with 5:03 left in the game.

There was no question that, with the crowd riled up and Butte Central possessing the momentum, Havre needed an answer, and Terry was the one to provide it, beating her defender for a layup to make it 43-37.

“She did a great job,” Kraske said of the senior. “She ran the show for us, really moved the ball around. Defensively, she was really outstanding. She guarded the St. John girl and really knocked her around a bit and did a nice job.”

Then, Terry and Keller, who combined to make 17 of their first 19 free throws, hit a bunch from the charity stripe to push the advantage to 53-41, the second largest of the game, with around a minute remaining. The Maroons had no miracles up their sleeve and the Ponies won going away, 55-41.

Terry, who is playing in her last state tournament for Havre, put together one of her finest performances, thanks to a game-high 26 points. Keller also had a stellar outing with 17. The two combined for 78 percent of Havre’s points and outscored Butte Central's entire team. Kloie Thatcher had 13 for the Maroons, while Olivier Bolton had 12. St. John’s and the state’s leading scorer coming in, Mollie Peoples, were both held in check.

“Our defense was outstanding,” Kraske said. “We used (Kaylee) Nystrom to faceguard Thatcher, Naomi to faceguard St. John and Kyndall to faceguard Peoples. But our helpers were the key. Ceyara Plante, Danielle Wallace, Rayan VandenBos, Kristen Nash, Marca Herron, they all did a great job.”

While Columbia Falls joined Havre as the winner from the morning session, Hardin and Belgrade won in the night sessions. Those teams will meet tonight at 8, right after Havre and C-Falls battle it out in the semifinals.

Havre 55, Butte Central 41

Havre 14 12 14 15 - 55

Butte Central 10 7 14 10 - 41

HAVRE - Ceyara Plante 6, Kyndall Keller 17, Naomi Terry 26, Danielle Wallace 3, Ryan Vandenbos 2, Kyley Verploegen 1. Totals: 13 26-33.

BUTTE CENTRAL - Kloie Thatcher 13, Mollie Peoples 2, Emily St. John 8, Olivia Bolton 12, Bella Sorini 4, Corbyn Holm 2. Totals: 13 13-15

3-pointers – Plante, Keller, Terry, Bolton 2.