Cloudy, 40° F
The junior varsity girls’ basketball team wrapped up its season last weekend with a 15-5 record. The Powell High School girls won their final two games against Lovell on Friday and in Lander on …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
The Powell Tribune has expanded its online content. To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a subscription.
If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free web account by clicking here.
If you already have a web account, but need to reset it, you can do so by clicking here.
If you would like to purchase a subscription click here.
Please log in to continue |
|
The junior varsity girls’ basketball team wrapped up its season last weekend with a 15-5 record. The Powell High School girls won their final two games against Lovell on Friday and in Lander on Saturday.
“Each year is a challenge with the JV team as there are usually three different grades coming together for the first time to form our team,” Panther JV coach Troy Hildebrand said.
This year’s group was composed of five freshmen, four sophomores and three juniors who were able to find and embrace their role early in the season.
The Panthers started the campaign 11-1 as they continued to use their strong defense and transition offense to pull ahead of teams early and often.
The Panthers pushed their record to 12-2 in early February, before an overtime loss on the road to Pinedale gave the JV team its first loss since the first weekend of the season.
“Pinedale has tremendous size inside that we really had no answer for all game,” Hildebrand said. “It is a real credit to our girls that they battled as well as they did all game to keep us within striking distance late.”
The Panthers dropped their next game, too, losing 63-29 to a strong Buffalo JV team on Feb. 11. PHS was powered by sophomore Kenzie Ratcliff, who scored 17 points in her two quarters of action.
The JV team got back on track against Worland, as the whole team provided scoring in a 44-29 victory.
“I was really proud of how the girls bounced back after a tough loss,” Hildebrand said.
The next weekend the Panthers battled in two tough losses to Lyman and Mountain View, then rebounded from those losses in the final weekend against Lovell and Lander. The PHS JV beat Lovell 40-37 at home on Friday and then bested Lander 50-45 in overtime in a Saturday contest on the road.
Hildebrand said the Panthers were primarily led by their defense. Six of the team’s 12 players averaged between four and six points per game which led to the team being an offense by committee for most games.
“As juniors, we really relied on the leadership and experience that Gretel Opps, Abby Wambeke and Blake Nissen brought to this team,” Hildebrand said. “I was really proud of how this group approached each week and put their best foot forward.”
