M-Ettes too tough for Ponies

It was always going to be tough for the Havre High girls basketball team to beat Malta, but they proved over four quarters Saturday in Havre, that the Blue Ponies can at least compete with them.

The Ponies are a relatively young team and in the end, that inexperience may have hurt them against the defending Class B state champion M-Ettes, who dispatched the Ponies 55-44 Saturday inside the HHS gymnasium. The loss is the second in a row for the Ponies, who are now 2-4 on the young season.

Havre, which is normally very stout defensively, gave up more than 50 points only once last season and now they have allowed more than 50 points three times this season, with two of those games coming against Malta.

"Defensively we are really going to need to work so that we can consistently get stops," HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. "But, it's early. It's still January. Positively, I thought we had more moments of aggressiveness than we did down there obviously and that's a sign that we are getting a little more mature, it's just weird because I feel as though we are leaving defensive rebounds for them to get. Our kids have to understand that if you get them to shoot a very tough shot, you need to do the finish work to complete possessions, and we need to do a better job of that."

Yet, Havre can be forgiven for having trouble slowing down the M-Ettes, especially since Malta boasts three highly-skilled players in Sophia Stiles, Hailey Nicholson and Jada Nicholson. And in the first quarter that talent was on display from Stiles especially, who scored four points and made a trio of eye-opening assists that helped Malta jump out to a 14-7 lead.

Stiles then opened the second quarter with a score and assist and at that point, the M-Ettes led 18-7 and Stiles had assisted on or scored 14 of their 18 points.

Yet down 13, the Ponies battled back. First, Naomi Terry nailed a long two, then Dani Wagner converted an old-fashioned three-point play to get Havre within eight at 20-12.

However, Malta answered by scoring 13 of the last 18 points of the first half to take a commanding 30-19 edge into the intermission. The M-Ettes pushed their lead to 14 early in the third, yet, Havre responded and thanks to a triple by Terry, the lead was back to nine at 33-24.

But, that was close as Havre would get. The M-Ettes held Havre at bay for the rest of the night and even though Wagner scored 11 more, the Ponies never seriously threatened Malta in the second half.

Wagner had the game-high and finished with 22 points. Terry also reached double-figures and totaled 11 for HHS. Hailey Nicholson finished with 21 for Malta, while Stiles had 14 and five assists.

"I thought that Dani did a great job," Kraske said. "She had her hands full with Hailey (Nicholson) down there and I thought she handled her well. I liked how aggressive she was going to the basket and that's an aggressive mindset that we need on this team as we try to develop some more scorers."

Havre will be back in action on Friday when the Ponies travel to Conrad to take on the Cowgirls at 5:30 p.m, before returning to the HHS gymnasium to host Lewistown on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Malta 55, Havre 44

Malta 14 19 16 6 – 55

Havre 7 12 16 8 – 44

Malta – Marly Manoukian 10, Sophia Styles 14, Hailey Nicholson 21, Jada Nicholson 8, Shay Garfield 2. Totals 27 1-4 55.

Havre – Dani Wagner 22, Kaylee Nystrom 3, Naomi Terry 11, Marca Herron 3, Danielle Wallace 3, Kristen Nash 2. Totals 16 9-11 44.

3-points goals – Nystrom, Terry, Herron. Total fouls – Malta 11, Havre 7. Fouled out – none.