Secure No. 1 seed with free throws

Edging their rival Cody Filles in a 38-36 overtime thriller on Friday night, Powell High School’s Lady Panthers secured a top seed at this week’s regional tournament.

Though that followed a 50-31 loss in Worland on Thursday, “we got the win we needed to this weekend,”  said PHS head coach Scott McKenzie.

Powell 38, Cody 36

Powell (11-9 overall, 6-0 in Class 3A West’s North Quadrant) and Cody (10-11, 4-2) stayed within seven points of each other the entire way.

“What a fun game — exciting game,” McKenzie said.

Cody put the first points onto the board with free throws to take a 2-0 lead. But PHS senior Tayli Stenerson answered with a 3-point bucket to put Powell ahead 3-2. Powell held that one point lead until 2:38 left in the first quarter, when Cody started a run to lead 8-5 at the end of the first period.

“We had trouble scoring at times; Cody had done a nice job on the interior against (Jennifer Bonander) and (Rachel Bonander),” coach McKenzie said.

By halftime, however, Powell had taken a 19-13 lead and held on in the third quarter to carry a 28-21 lead into the final quarter of play.

Cody held Powell scoreless for nearly the entire fourth quarter and slowly chipped away to tie the game with 1:06 remaining.

Powell went 0 for 8 shooting in the quarter, not putting a single point onto the board until six seconds left in regulation. That’s when senior Dani Asay hit two free throws to put Powell ahead, 30-28.

However, with 0.9 seconds remaining, Cody inbounded the ball on their own baseline and made a basket to put the game into overtime with the score tied at 30.

The scored stayed that way until the overtime clock read 3:17, when Maddy Hanks put her toes to the stripe and hit a free throw to put Powell ahead by one, 31-30.

From there, the game went back and forth between Powell and Cody, with the teams trading one-point leads five different times. Rachel Bonander made two free throws with 1:09 remaining to put Powell ahead 37-36.

With 25.4 seconds left to play, Hanks made another free throw to put Powell ahead by two — the largest lead of overtime.

With 12 seconds left in play, Cody attempted two shots. After the second shot, Powell got the  rebound to win the game and secure the No. 1 seed for the Class 3A West North Quadrant.

Overall, coach McKenzie said he thought the girls played good defense against Cody, adding that he is “proud of the girls for answering all of Cody’s runs at us and staying poised. I think that will definitely help us going into regionals.”

Powell shot 21.4 percent from 3-point range, 27.3 percent on 2-point shots and 64.7 percent at the free throw line.

Hanks led the team with 11 points while adding six steals, three assists and nine rebounds (seven on defense and two offensive).

Rachel Bonander also had nine boards (six on defense and three on offense), and scored 10 points.

Aubrie Stenerson scored eight points and Dani Asay scored six. Tayli Stenerson had three points and four steals and assists. 

Worland 50, Powell 31

On Thursday night, Powell traveled to Worland (15-4 overall) to play the defending state champions on their home court.

“Both teams played good ‘D’ and made the other team take hard shots; it just kind of stayed that way till about halfway through the last quarter,” said McKenzie.

At the end of the first quarter, Powell was down 11-7. The Lady Panthers held Worland to only two points in the second quarter and cut the lead to five, 19-14, going into halftime.

During the third quarter, Worland increased the lead to 37-28.

“We didn’t rebound very well, gave them a lot of second chance shots,” said McKenzie.

The Lady Warriors pulled away in the fourth quarter.

“(I) thought we battled Worland pretty hard; the score’s a little bit bigger than how we really played them,” the coach said.

Powell had 21 defensive boards and five offensive boards as a team. Hanks led the team with 10 rebounds — seven on defense and three on offense.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well from the perimeter,” McKenzie said.

Powell made only one 3-point basket out of nine attempts, or 11.1 percent. From 2-point range, Powell made 9-of-27 attempts or 33.3 percent. But the Lady Panthers shot well at the free throw line, making 10 out of 13 attempts, or 76.9 percent.

Aubrie Stenerson was Powell’s high scorer, with 12 points. Hanks was second with nine, going 7-for-8 at the free throw line. Tayli Stenerson and Rachel Bonander each scored four points and Jennifer Bonander scored two.

Thursday kicks off the 3A West Regional Basketball Tournament.

Powell’s first game will be against Pinedale (9-14 overall) at 9 a.m. Thursday in Riverton.

“Pinedale had beat us earlier in the year but I think we are playing better now and I think the girls look forward to another chance at Pinedale,” coach McKenzie said.

At the regional tournament, the top four teams will advance to the 3A state tournament in Casper on March 9-11.

“We’re shooting free throws really well, we’re understanding our purpose on offensive, we’re taking great pride in our defense, so it’s good heading into March for us right now,” McKenzie said.