It’s been quite the journey to get here for the Havre girls’ basketball team, finishing with 20 wins in the first year of the Tommy Brown era. New Media Broadcasters spoke to Brown after his team’s finish last week at the state basketball tournament and he said he was nothing but proud of his squad for the way they showed out on the big stage yet again, taking home a third-place trophy for the first time in 30 seasons.
“After our divisional tournament, we knew that we had to pick it up a notch if we were going to compete at the state tournament,” Brown said. “One of the phrases we used with our team leading up to the state tournament and at the state tournament was just, ‘Bring the fight.'”
“Bring the fight to practice. Bring the fight to the other team, and play hard, no matter what the situation,” Brown continued. “Stick together and just try to go grind out wins.”
“I just thought our team really embodied that,” Brown said.
Brown was tasked with taking over a program that had won six of the last 10 MHSA State Class ‘A’ titles, all done by legendary head coach Dustin Kraske. The continuity continued with Brown and will be able to evolve into what the program used to be: playing at state on the last day of the season and taking home that hardware. Brown summed up his first year of head coaching the Lady Ponies.
“I don’t think there could be a better community to experience your first year as a head coach in the state of Montana,” Brown said.
“Between all the coaching mentors I’ve gotten to know over the years and of course, all those that helped me out in my first season, (it’s been a) very supportive community (with) fans,” Brown continued.
“Of course (and) most importantly, amazing players that just bought into what we were trying to teach,” Brown said. “I was just really lucky and really privileged to have this opportunity.”
