Blue Ponies lose tough ones at state

HAMILTON — The Havre High girls basketball team was within reach of winning back-to-back state championships. But against both Hamilton and Columbia Falls, Havre struggled to score, and in the end that was what put a stop to the Blue Ponies memorable two-year run.

Friday night in Hamilton, the Ponies met the host Broncs in the semifinals of the Class A state tournament in a rematch of last season’s state championship game. That game was won by Havre, but this time Hamilton got its revenge with a 49-41 win.

After falling to the Broncs Friday night, the Ponies had to turn around and play Columbia Falls, a team that lost just one game coming into the state tournament, in loser-out action, and in the end HHS didn’t have enough to overcome the Wildcats, who downed Havre 52-41. The loss eliminated the Ponies from the tournament and ended their season at 17-6.

“Losing in that semifinal game is not very fun,” HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. “But I was really proud of our kids, I thought they played hard and in the locker room I told them what a great season they had.”

Against the Broncs in the semifinal round, the Ponies got into a hole early after two early 3-pointers by Jaylee Albert gave Hamilton an 11-2 lead at the end of the first quarter. Yet, Havre fought back like one would expect a championship team to and went on a 9-0 that featured five points from Morgan Mazurkiewicz and a three-point play by Dani Wagner.

Then, Naomi Terry scored the next seven points for Havre and her second trey in just a couple minutes allowed HHS to grab an 18-16 lead midway through the second quarter. However, the Broncs closed the half on a 6-2 run to take a 22-20 advantage into halftime.

“(Hamilton) hits some threes early but we were able to weather that,” Kraske said. “Our kids really came back and played well and got the lead, it was fantastic.”

Down five early in the third quarter, Mazurkiewicz nailed a trey to keep Havre within two at 24-22, but then the Broncs went on another run sparked by 3-pointers from Taylor Goligoski and Brianna Huggins. They outscored Havre 10-5 to end the third and took a 34-27 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Hamilton pushed its lead to as much as nine points early in the fourth, but the Ponies refused to back down and crept within three after two three-point plays by Mazurkiewicz. Yet, a tying 3-point attempt with under two minutes left went awry and the Broncs made 7-of-8 free throw attempts, while the Ponies scored just once more to seal the eight-point win for Hamilton.

“I was really proud of the way our kids played,” Kraske said. “I thought we played outstanding defensively. We just missed some layups and just had a tough time getting shots to go.”

Mazurkiewicz led all scorers with 17 points for Havre. Wagner added 10. Goligoski led the Broncs with 16, while Albert and Kali Hayes each had 11.

While Hamilton would go on to win the state championship Saturday night, the loss put Havre up against Columbia Falls Saturday morning in loser-out action and this time, the Ponies got off to a much better start offensively as Wagner scored seven of the team’s first nine points as HHS built an early 9-6 advantage.

But, the Wildcats answered and outscored HHS 8-5 to end the first quarter with the score tied at 14-14.

In the second quarter, the Ponies struggled offensively and scored just three points, while the Wildcats, on the other hand, scored 12 points in the stanza, including the last seven to take a 26-17 halftime lead.

Havre hung tough for most of the third quarter but could never get closer than eight points, and 6-2 run by the Wildcats to close the third put them in front of the Ponies 39-26 going into the fourth quarter.

Three-point plays by Wagner and Mazurkiewicz helped the Ponies trim the Columbia Falls lead to 43-35 with 4:42 left in the game, but the Wildcats scored four straight points to push the lead back to 12 and later made four straight free throws after two Havre baskets to put the game away.

Wagner scored a game-high 16 points in defeat for Havre. Mazurkiewicz closed out her Havre career with a solid 15-point outing. Peyton Kehr was the only Wildcat to reach double figures with 11.

“I thought we played great defense in both games,” Kraske said. “We just couldn’t score enough. Columbia Falls is tough, they have length and they make you run all over the place. But our kids played fantastic, they did awesome and I couldn’t be prouder of them to be honest with you.”

Hamilton 49, Havre 41 (sf)

Hamilton 11 11 12 15 - 49

Havre 2 18 7 14 - 41

Hamilton - Taylor Goligoski 5-15 5-6 16, Jaylee Albert 3-7 3-4 11, Kloie Nye 1-2 0-0 3, Kali Hayes 4-7 3-3 11, Carlie Jessop 0-1 0-0 0, Brianna Huggans 2-8 2-4 8. Totals: 15-40 13-17 49.

Havre - Ceyara Plante 1-2 0-0 2, Dani Wagner 4-13 2-3 10, Morgan Mazurkiewicz 17, Tori Mazurkiewicz 0-1 0-0 0, Naomi Terry 3-5 1-2 9, Marca Herron 0-1 0-0 0, Holly Purkett 0-2 0-0 0, Lindsey Kudrna 1-1 1-2 3. Totals: 15-38 7-11 41

Columbia Falls 52, Havre 41 (lo)

C. Falls 14 12 13 13 – 52

Havre 14 3 9 15 – 41

Columbia Falls – Summer Burlage 1-4 0-0 2, Ciera Finberg 1-7 6-8 8, Sydney Grilley 0-0 2-2 2, Cydney Finberg 1-1 3-4 5, Ellie Johnson 0-2 0-0 0, Peyton Kehr 4-6 2-2 11, Winter Kemppainen 4-8 1-4 9, Miranda Livingston 1-4 2-3 5, Kiara Burlage 1-5 4-4 6, Allyson Gimbel 1-1 2-2 4. Totals: 14-38 22-29 52.

Havre – Ceyara Plante 0-5 1-2 1, Dani Wagner 7-17 2-3 16, Morgan Mazurkiewicz 5-11 5-5 15, Tori Mazurkiewicz 0-1 0-1 0, Naomi Terry 1-2 0-0 2, Marca Herron 1-2 0-0 3, Holly Purkett 0-0 1-3 1, Lindsey Kudrna 1-1 1-2 3. Totals: 15-39 10-16 41.

3-point goals – C. Falls 2-10 (Livingston 1-1, Kehr 1-2), Havre 1-13 (Herron 1-2). Total fouls – C. Falls 18, Havre 22. Fouled out – Terry, Purkett. Rebounds – C. Falls 26 (Kemppainen 11), Havre 25 (Wagner 6).