Havre High girls sweep Eagles, Coyotes

Havre High's Peyton Filius (right) goes in for a shot over a Shelby defender during a high school girls basketball game Saturday night at the HHS gymnasium. The Blue Ponies beat Shelby and Lewistown this weekend.

Over the last couple of weekends, the Havre High girls basketball team has had its share of struggles. But getting back on track this weekend, the Blue Ponies managed to come away with two wins.

The Central A Ponies were at home and on the road over the weekend. On Friday the Ponies were on the road for a tough conference game. The Ponies won 47-43 in Lewistown. On Saturday the Ponies returned home for senior night against the nonconference Shelby Coyotes, and this time won 55-33. With the two wins the Ponies improved to 11-6 overall and 6-1 in the conference.

Playing at home on Saturday, the win over Shelby meant a big win for seniors Jaclyn Evans and Sammy Evans. And while it was good for to end their play in the Havre High gymnasium with a win, Jaclyn Evans is still focused on the rest of the season.

"It was good to get this win," Jaclyn Evans said. "But we still have a lot to work on before we get to divisionals. I think that was our main goal this game, not just to win but to use it to prepare for divisionals. We are still taking it one step at a time. First we want to win our league, then we want to win divisionals, and then make it to state, that is the ultimate goal right now."

The Ponies got of to a hot start against the Coyotes on Saturday, taking a 22-3 lead in the first eight minutes. In the opening frame the Ponies hit eight of their 13 shot attempts, with Chanal Standing rock grabbing nine quick points.

"Our first eight minutes were real salty," Havre High head coach Dustin Kraske said. "But after that we didn't play as well. But it was fine, we just found a couple of things we can do better and we know we have to do a better job maintaining our sense of urgency."

In the remaining three quarters the Ponies still played well, scoring 10 in the second, eight in the third and 15 in the fourth. But HHS also had some let downs, allowing the Coyotes to get into the paint on several occasions, grabbing 13 points in the second quarter and 12 in the third. Katie Hayes also hit some big shots for Shelby, and finished with 11 points.

Fortunately for the Ponies, the lead they built early helped in the win, as did Jaclyn Evans and Brandy Lambourne combining for nine points in the fourth quarter as they fended off any runs by the Coyotes. Lambourne and Jaclyn Evans both finished with 1 -points each, while Chanal Standing Rock led all scorers with 15 points.

Friday on the road, the Ponies didn't have it as easy, but still earned the win.

The Ponies led Lewsitown 16-9 early and led 28-23 at the half. But as the Eagles battled back in the second half, Lewistown even took the lead late in the game.

But the Ponies stayed composed, continued to run their offense and earned their way to the line for 14 free throws in the fourth quarter. The Ponies didn't hit one filed goal in the fourth quarter, but instead hit 11 big time field goals. Lambourne hit two in a crucial situation, as did Neya Bischoff. And with two seconds left in the game, Sammy Evans hit two more free throws to seal the deal for the Ponies.

"Our kids battled through and did a nice job." Kraske said. "They did some nice things, especially down the stretch and I was proud of them. They handled some adversity on the road and we looked like we grew up a lot that game. That is good to see because, we are playing with more maturity and I don't know if our kids early in the season would have been able to close out a game like that."

Standing Rock led the Ponies with 12 points. Morgan Mazurkiewicz kicked in eight, and Lambourne finished with seven.

The Ponies have had their ups and downs this season, but look to be on the way back up once again. They earned two more wins and are looking to keep improving into next weekend when they face Conrad on Friday on the road. The Ponies then finish the season on Feb. 18 against Browning at the Havre Central Gym.

Havre's Chanal Standing Rock launches a shot during Saturday's girls basketball game between the Blue Ponies and Shelby in Havre.

— Brandy Lambourne 7, Jaclyn Evans 4, Morgan Mazurkiewicz 8, Sammy Evans 6, Lacey Waid 1, Peyton Eilius 6, Chanel Standing Rock 12, Neya Bischoff 3. Totals: 11 23-37.

Lewistown — Mikaela Olson 7, McCalle Feller 15, Lissa Quinlan 4, Allie Adams 2, Kelsey Phillips 1, Beth Wright 5, Amanda STenseth 9. Ttoals 14 13-21.

3-pt. goals — Mazurkiewicz 2, Olson 1, Feller 1. Total fouls — Havre 20, Lewistown 24. Fouled out — Eilius, Wright.

Havre 55, Shelby 33

Shelby 3 13 12 5 — 33

Havre 22 10 8 15 — 55

Shelby — Katie Kelleher 4, Katie hayes 11, Kayla Leary 3, Jessica Mahr 5, Jordon Mahr 10. Totals: 13 5-8.

Havre— Brandy Lambourne 11, Jaclyn Evans 11, Morgan Mazurkiewicz 4, Sammy Evans 6, Lacey Waid 2, peyton Filius 5, Chad Standing Rock 15, Neya Bischoff 1. Totals: 20 13-19.

Total fouls: Shelby 13, Havre 8. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None. Three point goals: Hayes 2, Lambourne 1, Standing Rock 1.