HHS girls power past Rocky Boy

ROCKY BOY - With seemingly every game, the Havre High girls basketball team is getting better and better. And Saturday in Rocky Boy, the Blue Ponies continued with their upward trajectory.

The Ponies, who improved to 7-1 with a 61-29 win on the road, look formidable after controlling the game from start to finish against the Morning Stars, who are now 7-3 after the loss.

"Our kids came out and played great," HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. "We played great defensively and we were patient on offense. We played well and we played with a lot of confidence. It was fun to watch."

HHS jumped out to a 6-0 lead on Rocky Boy to start the game, but a 7-0 run by the Morning Stars gave the lead back to the home team. Yet the Ponies got hot from deep as Marca Herron hit twice from 3-point range, followed by Ceyara Plante who knocked down a trey to close the quarter with Havre in front 15-8.

Early in the second, Kyndall Keller made the fourth trey of the night for HHS and the lead was 21-12. At the 2:47 mark, Rocky Boy got a bucket from Sasha Coffee, making the score 25-14 Ponies. It would be the last point the Morning Stars would score until 1:22 left in the third quarter. The drought lasted a total of 9:42 and allowed Havre to score 15 straight points, giving it a commanding 40-14 lead.

"When our kids sit down and communicate and work well together, positive things occur," Kraske said. "We talk a lot about, not trying to get steals or do anything fancy, just get a hand up and I think our kids did a better job of that. That was huge, the first shot they hit was maybe two minutes left in the third quarter and that was from the volleyball line, so we will take that I guess."

Havre got a balanced scoring effort as Terry led the way with 17 points. Herron also contributed a strong effort with 12 points. Plante scored 11 points for the Ponies and Keller pitched in with 10. Adrienne Gopher was the high scorer for Rocky Boy with 10. Coffee ended with nine.

"The kids did a nice job," Kraske said. "We shared the ball really well. I don't think we had any forced shots and all our kids played well together. Marca played well off the bench. She has been playing better defensively and shooting the ball well. She's like having a sixth starter. Danielle Wallace also probably had her best game of the year. She was aggressive and rebounded well and that's key for us because our bigs are kind of the king to the kingdom for us to play well down the stretch."

The game in Rocky Boy was the sixth on the road in seven games so far for Havre. HHS is 5-1 on the road and 1-0 at home. The Ponies were supposed to play inside the HHS gymnasium Friday night against Browning, but the game was postponed due to bad road conditions. However, the Central A matchup has been rescheduled for tonight at 5:30. It will be the Ponies first conference home game of the season.

"I will just be glad to have a home game," Kraske said. "That will be nice. It will be different because that was going to be an off day. But we were already prepared for Browning and we will have a little get together Monday to get kind of get ready, so I don't think it will make much of a difference."

With the Browning game set for tonight inside the HHS gymnasium, it will give the Ponies the next five at home. Belgrade and Livingston will be in Havre this Friday and Saturday. HHS will then host CMR Jan. 27 and Malta Jan. 28. Havre will play seven of its final 10 games at home.

Havre 61, Rocky Boy 29

Havre 15 14 15 17 – 61

Rocky Boy 8 6 8 7 – 29

Havre – Ceyara Plante 11, Rien Olsen 4, Kyndall Keller 10, Naomi Terry 17, Marca Herron 12, Danielle Wallace 5, Kristen Nash 1. Totals: 22 9-16.

Rocky Boy – Tessa Big Knife 5, J. Gopher 1, Sahsa Coffee 9, Maya Reed 4, Adrienne Gopher 10. Totals: 10 6-12.

Fouls: Rocky Boy 17, Havre 10. Fouled out – Reed, Nystrom. 3-Pointers: Havre 8 (Terry 2, Keller 2, Herron 2, Olson, Plante) Rocky Boy 3 (Gopher 3).