Pony girls lose two at tip-off tourney

Two games into the 2002-03 basketball season, Havre High girls basketball head coach Dennis Murphy knows there are some things his team will have to improve on if it is to have a chance in the Central A Conference. The Ponies dropped a pair of games to Livingston and Belgrade over the weekend in Butte at the Central A Tip-off Tournament.

"I think the biggest thing that happened this weekend was that it exposed some things that we're not very good at right now," Murphy said. "But the positive thing is that we won't dwell on these losses. We're just going to find a way to get better at those things so we can be a better basketball team next time out."

The Ponies opened their season Friday with a 57-36 loss at the hands of the Livingston Runnin Rangers. Turnovers and an inability to consistently handle Livingston's full-court pressure defense were key factors in the loss.

"Livingston was about what we expected going in," Murphy said. "They came out and pressed us right away and we turned the ball over four seconds into the game and ended up with 32 turnovers. That you can't have."

"We also played pretty poor help defense and didn't get back on defense and that is something that we need to get better at," Murphy added.

Havre was led offensively by Carrie Flatau with 13 points and seven rebounds. Renessa Briere added 10 points and nine boards.

Saturday morning, the Ponies dropped a heartbreaker to the Belgrade Panthers 59-56. Murphy said his team played much better in the second game of the tournament but didn't shoot the ball consistently enough.

"We jumped on them 11-4 after the first quarter, but then they went to a zone defense and we didn't shoot the ball well after that and ended up falling behind," Murphy said. "We just didn't adjust to their adjustments."

Havre was paced once again by Flatau, who scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed six boards. Renessa Briere grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and added five assists. Amy McLain added five assists as well.

Despite the 0-2 start, Murphy did see some positive things from McLain, who was starting at the point guard position in her first varsity game.

"I was pleased with the way Amy played," Murphy said. "She had a couple of turnovers early against Livingston and then really played well at the point guard spot after that."

"We won't dwell on this," Murphy added. "Now we see where we need to get better and we'll find out a way to do it."

The Ponies will return to action on Thursday when they visit the Harlem Wildcats, and then face the Glasgow Scotties in Havre on Saturday afternoon.