The Powell High School junior varsity girls basketball team recently wrapped up a successful 15-4 campaign.

“This was a very solid season for these girls and each of them brought some real positives to the team throughout this season,” said JV coach Troy Hildebrand. “I look forward to seeing their continued growth as we look ahead to next season.”

The Lady Panthers' JV season ended with a 41-19 loss to Lovell on Feb. 28.

Lovell took a 24-5 lead to halftime, which Hildebrand attributed in part to the Lady Bulldogs’ aggressive defense. Powell outscored Lovell 17-14 in the final two quarters, but it wasn’t enough.

Tayli Stenerson had six points, Rachelle Cole “had a nice game” in scoring five points — including her first 3-pointer of the year, Hildebrand said — while Jennifer Bonander added four points, Mallory Triplett three and Shayla Harsh two.

The day before, Cody had similarly raced out to a 37-12 halftime lead and won 62-34. Hildebrand said the Fillies caused lots of trouble with their defensive pressure while shooting the ball extremely well.

Powell did play about even with Cody in the second half.

Bonander led the team with 11 points, Kinsey Ashby added seven, Stenerson had six, Lexee Craig had five, Triplett had three and Harsh had two points.

That was Cody’s revenge for a Feb. 6 game, where the PHS JV had bested them 34-31 in a back-and-forth battle.

Powell had trailed 23-17 after three quarters before rallying in the fourth — doubling their points to edge the Fillies. The squad went 9 for 12 from the free throw line in the final period, led by Richelle Phister’s 4-4 performance.

Bonander scored 19 points “and just did an incredible job of catching the ball and finishing around the rim in traffic all game long.” Dani Asay had nine points and Phister six.

Stenerson did a nice job handling Cody’s pressure, Hildebrand said, and Triplett helped the team catch up with strong defense and rebounding. In fact, the coach was pleased with how hard all the girls worked on defense while struggling on offense.

“That effort is the only real reason we had a chance to win it in the fourth period,” Hildebrand said.

On Feb. 14, the girls beat Lander 47-39, rebounding from an early 6-0 deficit.

Stenerson scored 14 of her 16 points in the second and third quarters that “really picked us up,” Hildebrand said, adding, “She had a couple of really great stretches where she made big plays defensively and then capitalized on the offensive end for us.”

Bonander had 11 points, Asay eight, Phister six and Craig, Nicole Sanders and Olivia Lang each had two.

The team hit five 3-pointers and sank 12 of 19 attempts from the line.

On Feb. 20, in a battle of one-loss teams, the girls came up short to Star Valley, 49-22.

The Powell girls had trailed just 20-15 in the third quarter before the Lady Braves went on a big run.

“We really struggled to get things going consistently against their pressure defense and we were not ourselves on the defensive end” in giving up easy baskets, Hildebrand said.

Bonander had 15 points, followed by three from Stenerson, two for Triplett and one apiece for Ashby and Harsh.

The girls rebounded the following day with a 49-32 win over Jackson. Even with a comfortable 33-19 lead at the half, Hildebrand said the girls clamped down on defense in the third quarter, holding Jackson to one field goal for a 45-21 lead going into the final period.

The young Jackson team “really had no answer for Jen on the inside” as Bonander scored 25 points in three quarters. Ashby added a career-best 10 points while Triplett had eight, Stenerson four and Olivia Veal two.