Pony girls make their season debut at home

During his tenure as the head coach of the Havre High girls basketball team, Dustin Kraske has never cared much about non-conference games. But with a schedule that features very few league games, six of 18 to be exact, Kraske is going to have to start changing his tune.

Last season, Havre and the rest of the Eastern A girls basketball teams met in Sidney, for the Eastern A Tip-off Tournament. But after one go around, the tip-off tournament was done away with.

Now, Havre will open its season this weekend, with back-to-back home games against Sidney and Glendive.

The Blue Ponies and the Eagles will do battle tonight at 7 in the season opener for both teams. Havre and Glendive with play Saturday at 4 p.m. Both games will be played inside the HHS gymnasium.

"We haven't done as well in non-conference games over the years," HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. "We tend to focus more on the league games, so that is maybe something that we will need to adjust. But our focus is always been on us, on our team and what we can do to get better. So that won't be any different."

Havre and Sidney met in the tip-off tournament a season ago with Havre winning the game easily, as the Eagles struggled to get the ball in the basket, failing to reach 30 points. However, with most of their starting lineup gone from last year's team, which finished near the bottom of the Eastern A, knocking off the Ponies at home, is going to be a tall order.

Yet, even though the Eagles did lose some starters to graduation, they aren't completely void of experience. Madison Thiel, a starter last season, returns along with Isakson, who didn't start, but played key minutes off the bench. Sidney also has the benefit of having some height inside in 6-0 sophomore Cassidy Larson, along with 5-10 junior Lauren Beenken.

While the Eagles finished 1-9 in the Eastern A conference last season, the only team that finished worse in the final standings was Glendive, which finished the conference season with a mark of 1-9. But, after winning just three of 17 games during the 2016-17 regular season, the Red Devils made a spectacular run in the divisional tournament and even upset higher-seeded Billings Central in the process. Glendive failed to make it to state, coming up just one win shy, but when the week was over, the Red Devils matched their regular-season win total with three.

Now, after falling just short of the state tournament, the Red Devils have sight their sights on reaching the eight-team state tournament that will be played in Great Falls March 1-3.

"It's what they set as their goal and what has motivated them over the past year," Glendive head coach Kayla Rivas said to the Glendive Ranger Review. "They want to make it to state and finish in the top three in their conference."

Glendive will have to deal with the loss of three starters in order to achieve its goal, but the Red Devils do return a host of experienced players such as Jaley Wyse, Thea Robson, Kendra Kaufman, Bailey Pearcy, Karsen Murphy and Savannah Toms.

Glendive may boast plenty of experience, but so do the Ponies, who boast All-State sophomore Kyndall Keller, who averaged 14 points and six rebounds for HHS a season ago. Joining her in the backcourt will be seniors Kaylee Nystrom and Marca Herron, who have each played significant minutes for Havre the past two seasons. Another key contributor back for the Ponies will be Danielle Wallace inside, who led the team in rebounding in 2016-17.

Other players that should see plenty of minutes for Havre during the opening weekend of play are senior Ryen Olson, junior Kyley Verploegen, sophomores Katie Wirtzberger and Cadia Miller, as well as freshman Kylie Walker.

"It's nice to be able to play at home to start the season," Kraske said. "Last year, we had to go to Sidney, but it was nice to be able to see some of the other teams in the Eastern A, because you could at least see all the teams play. But we are just excited to go play. The kids have been working really hard. We have been practicing great and we are ready to get out there and play somebody else."

Havre will take on Sidney tonight at 7, followed by a matchup Saturday against Glendive. Tip-off for that game will be at approximately 4 p.m. Both games will be played inside the HHS gymnasium. The Ponies are also home next weekend to host Belgrade and Livingston.