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2014 CLASS A
March 2014
STATE GIRLS BASKETBALL CHAMPS
www.havredailynews.com
Ponies bust the Broncs Havre throttles Frenchtown, gets a shot at Laurel in Class A semifinals tonight George Ferguson
Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com GREAT FALLS — Opening games of a state basketball tournament aren’t supposed to be easy. But the veteran Havre High girls basketball team sure made it look that way Thursday night in Great Falls. Facing the high-scoring Frenchtown Broncs in the first round of the 2014 Class A state tournament Thursday night at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls, the Blue Ponies used a stifling defensive effort, a stellar performance from the foul line and two big firsthalf runs to earn a dominating 60-41 win. The victory over Frenchtown pushed Havre (156) into tonight’s semifinals where the Ponies face defending Class A champion Laurel for a spot in Saturday night’s state championship game. “It feels really, really good. It’s really exciting,” HHS senior Lacey Waid said of the Ponies’ second straight first-round victory. “We had a few ups and downs tonight, but for the most part we pulled through and played really well.” The Ponies did play well, especially on the defensive end where they held the offensive-
minded Broncs to just 26 percent shooting and one 3-pointer. Havre’s swarming man defense also forced the Broncs into 18 turnovers. “That’s pretty much who we want to be,” Pony head coach Dustin Kraske said. “In every game, our goal is to play well defensively, and tonight, boy, the kids sure played fantastic defense. “Frenchtown is a very good team, with very good players,” he added. “But I just think we worked really hard defensively. We communicated well, we helped, we were focused with our assignments, and when we play defense like we did tonight, things usually go pretty well for us. So I’m really proud of how hard we played and how well we played on that end.” Defensively, Havre was brilliant, but the Ponies weren’t too shabby on offense either. And it started right away. A fast-break layup by senior Haley Ohm sparked an 8-0 first-quarter run for HHS, and while a Kayla Blood 3-pointer stopped the run, the Ponies took a 14-11 lead at the end of the first period as sophomore Dani Wagner scored two buckets at the end of the quarter. While the game was tight for a moment, Havre’s path to the semis was paved by an even more dominant second stanza. Morgan Mazurkiewicz started a 14-0 Havre
run with a quick deuce. And Havre’s defense did the work from there. During the run, HHS got three scores off steals, two by Brandy Lambourne and another by Waid, and by the time the barrage ended, the Ponies led 30-12. Frenchtown did make some free throws late in the period, but the Pony defense held the Broncs to just one field goal over the second eight minutes and Havre took a commanding 35-22 lead into intermission. “I was pleased with the way we played on offense,” Kraske said. “We did a nice job of attacking the basket, and we did a great job of shooting free throws. But our defense keyed a lot of that. We played so hard on that end, that eventually it led to some easy baskets and it also caused Frenchtown to have to work really hard on offense and that helped us on the offensive end.” The Broncs tried to make a game of it, getting a couple of Vanessa Stavish baskets early in the third quarter. But it was too little too late, and when Peyton Filius buried a three as the third-quarter buzzer went off, Havre led 47-28. And while Filius’ shot wowed the partisan HHS crowd, it was again the Pony defense which made the difference as they held the Broncs to just six points in the third. On the flip side, Frenchtown had too much
trouble stopping the Ponies, in particular Lambourne, who, playing in her third straight state tourney, scored a game-high 21 points and went a sparkling 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. Filius added two threes and scored 12 points, while Waid chipped in with six. Wagner scored six points and also led the Ponies with eight rebounds. As a team, the Ponies shot 56 percent from the floor and went an outstanding 28-of-33 from the foul line. HHS also out-rebounded the physical Broncs 32-21 and held Stavish, the Broncs’ star scorer to just 4-of-16 shooting and 15 points. It was a complete performance by a veteran Blue Pony team, and that performance propels the Ponies into a semifinal rematch with the Locomotives, and that’s something Lambourne and the rest of the team is looking forward to. Laurel, which beat Anaconda 52-38 Thursday night, beat the Ponies in last year’s state tournament on the way to winning it all. Now, Havre gets its chance to rewrite the story. “We didn’t have any nerves tonight,” Lambourne said. “And it showed because we played good. And we won’t be nervous tomor■ See Broncs Page 31
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2014 CLASS A
March 2014
STATE GIRLS BASKETBALL CHAMPS
www.havredailynews.com
Ponies beat Cowgirls, Eagles Daniel Horton
Havre Daily News sports writer gferguson@havredailynews.com Often times, there is a distinct weekend or game in a prep basketball season that sets the tone for the rest of the season. That weekend could turn out to be this last one for the Havre High girls basketball team as the Blue Ponies played two very solid games. Entering the weekend 3-3 overall, the Central A Blue Ponies had recorded some decent wins, but also lost some close matchups. And while fans have been waiting to see just what the team is capable of, wins over Conrad and Lewistown could just be the beginning. Friday night, the Ponies defeated the Conrad Cowgirls 49-39 in Conrad, and Saturday the Ponies defeated the conference rival Lewistown Golden Eagles 68-35 at home. The Ponies are now 5-3 overall and 3-0 in conference play. “It was a good weekend,” Havre’s Brandy Lambourne said. “It felt good to get our momentum going again after a couple of tough losses. And Conrad is always a really tough place to win, so that was good for us, too.” After the win Friday the Ponies returned home to treat the home crowed to one of their best performances of the season. In the dominating win over Eagles there wasn’t much the Ponies did that didn’t go in their favor. The normally tight-knit defense did fluctuate in success, but that didn’t keep the offense from bursting onto the scene and taking over. The result was eight out of the 10 Ponies that took the floor getting on the scoreboard, as well as each of the 10 girls recording at least one assist by the end of the night. Morgan Mazurkiewicz led the way with her 19 points, while Lambourne followed with 15, and Peyton Filius followed with another 10. Tori Mazurkiewicz finished with nine, while Lacey Waid finished with six, Haley Ohm finished with four, Breck Don finished with three and Lindsey Kudrna finished with two. Havre was also 8-of-9 from the free-throw line and knocked down a staggering 10
3-pointers. Morgan Mazurkiewicz had three 3-pointers to lead the team again. “Offensively, we were very much in rhythm and played very well together,” Havre High head coach Dustin Kraske said. “We were able to really space things out and make the extra pass to get the best shot. If anything got us going it was our kids making one extra pass, passing up a good shot and getting a better shot. That was the difference in the game. “And defensively,” Kraske added, “I think we went up and down a bit. Early we did some trapping, and when we rotated or switched into something else it wasn’t the same enthusiasm. Then we switched into something back and got that enthusiasm back, so it seemed like we just kept going up and down whenever we tried to switch things up or execute something differently.” There were distinct times during Saturday’s matchup where the Ponies had to think fast and make on-the-go adjustments to the changing defense. The Ponies were in a half-court zone look for the majority of the game, but worked on, as well as tweaked, things throughout the game. HHS jumped out to a 10-0 first quarter lead, but was outscored 8-5 in the final 3:15. HHS also gave up seven points in the first four minutes of the second quarter, but allowed just two points in the final four leading up to the half as they took a 33-17 lead. The trend continued for the Pony defense. Lewistown scored on four out of their first five possessions in the third quarter, but didn’t score in the final 5:19. And in the fourth quarter the Ponies gave up just nine total points for the third straight quarter, with just three of those Eagle points coming in the final 3:40 of the contest. “Lewistown is a nice basketball team,” Kraske said, “but we made them play uncomfortable tonight and that caused us to have success. The score doesn’t mean much to me, they are a nice team and we know we will have our hands full when we play them down there, for sure.”
The win over Lewistown came after a win over the Cowgirls Friday night. Both teams got off to a slow start with a combined 11-points in the first eight minutes, but as the Cowgirls continued to struggle, the Ponies’ offense went off. HHS held a healthy 22-15 lead at the break, but gained ground with 27-points in the second half. But the 10-point victory didn’t come before the Cowgirls tested Havre High. “We fought our tails off to beat them,” Kraske said. “Conrad always plays hard, and playing in their gym is like playing here, the home team always just seems to play well. We were up at one point 16-points, but they made a run and kept clawing and clawing. Pretty soon we were up just six, and our girls had to do a nice job down the stretch to pull away. We didn’t play our best basketball down there, but we played all right and it was a good win.” Filius scored 18 points to lead the way, while Lambourne finished with 13 points. Ohm followed with six, and both Morgan Mazurkiewicz and Tori Mazurkiewicz finished with five-points each. Havre travels to Browning Friday night before returning home to host the Rocky Boy Morning Stars Saturday night. Havre 49, Conrad 39 Havre 5 17 14 13 – 49 Conrad 6 9 7 17 – 39 Havre – Breck Don 2, Brandy Lambourne 13, Morgan Mazurkiewicz 5, Peyton Filius 18, Tori Mazurkiewicz 5, Haley Ohm 6. Totals: 17 10-14. Conrad – Taryn Erickson 9, Hayley Orcutt 11, Makayla Barringer 4, Michalea DeBro 2, Emily Harwood 6, Morgan VanDyke 7. Totals: 16 5-12. Total fouls: Havre 15, Conrad 11. Fouled out: None. Three pointers: Lambourne 2, M. Mazurkiewicz 1, Filius 2, Erickson 1, Orcutt 1. Havre 68, Lewistown 35
Havre Daily News/Daniel Horton Havre's Morgan Mazurkiewicz drives the ball to the basket during Saturday night's Central A girls game between Havre and Lewistown at the HHS gymnasium. Lewistown 8 9 9 9 - 35 Havre 15 18 23 12 – 68 Lewistown – Mikaela Olson 4, Nicole Karhi 4, Jessica Kinzarski 9, Maddie Comes 4, Tara Olson 3, Michelle Monger 1, Jaree Mane 10. Totals: 15 5-6. Havre – Breck Don 3, Brandy Lambourne 15, Morgan Mazurkiewicz 19, Lacey Waid 6, Peyton Filius 10, Tori Mazurkiewicz 9, Haley Ohm 4, Lindsey Kudrna 2. Totals: 25 8-9. Total fouls: Lewistown 11, Havre 11. Fouled out: None. Three pointers: Olson 1, Mane 2, Don 1, Lambourne 2, M. Mazurkiewicz 4, Filius 2, T. Mazurkiewicz 1.
State Champs ■ Continued from page 3
together,” Kraske said. “We have kids who bought into and believed in what we were doing, and they all accepted and played their own role and did it all very well. It’s just a really special group, and I’m so happy for them that they get to experience this. There’s no other feeling like this.” “I can’t explain how I feel right now because it is so exciting,” said senior Lacey Waid. “We did it. We finally did it and it is just exciting. I am bawling, then I am excited again, then I am bawling, then excited again. This is something we can definitely be proud of and look back on forever.” Sunday night, the team was honored with a parade from Holiday Village Mall.
Kraske, assistant Kelly Mazurkiewicz and members of the Blue Ponies spoke to parents and fans about the experience of winning a state championship, while also thanking all of their supporters. “This success is a product of the unconditional love and support these kids have for each other,” Kraske said inside the HHS Auditorium. “I told the kids last night (Saturday) they will never take this state championship trophy down. Divisional trophies get moved or taken down through the years, but the state championship ones stay in the trophy cases forever. So I’m so happy that all of these kids will get to come back here for the rest of their lives and see this trophy in the trophy case here at Havre High.”
Havre Daily News/Daniel Horton Havre High students cheer on the Blue Ponies during Saturday night's Class A state championship game in Great Falls. For more photos, see the galleries at www.havredailynews.com.