{gallery}02_16_10/phsgbball{/gallery}Lady Panther Hannah Pollart meets some resistance from Mountain View's 6'5” sophomore Stephanie Smith as Tawnie Bugas (bottom left) and Kaycie Rees converge to help out for the Buffaloes. Despite the defensive pressure, Pollart ended the game with 17 points as the Lady Panthers prevailed and took over sole ownership of first place in the conference. Tribune photo by Don Amend Lady Panthers seize 3A West leadWith a decisive win over Mountain View on Saturday, the Powell High School girls' basketball team took over first place in Class 3A West.The 37-23 home victory avenged a Jan. 8 loss to the Lady Buffaloes.It followed a 42-30 defeat of Lyman on Friday night, and pushed the Lady Panthers' record to 15-3 overall, and 9-2 in 3A West.

“I was pleased with how well the girls played, particularly on Saturday,” said PHS head coach Luke Danforth.

No. 2-ranked Powell and No. 1 Mountain View (15-5, 8-3) battled back and forth in a low-scoring first quarter that saw four lead changes.

The Lady Buffalos jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Powell went on a 5-0 run behind a jumper from Katie Kipp and three Hannah Pollart free throws. The teams exchanged baskets and free throws and the quarter closed with Mountain View leading 9-8.

PHS quickly regained the lead on a couple Pollart baskets in the second period, and never gave it back. They began distancing themselves from Mountain View in the latter stages of the second quarter.

With just about a minute remaining in the half, Pollart converted a 3-point play to put PHS up 20-14. With around six seconds left, Savannah Donarski sunk two free throws to put PHS up 22-14 at the half.

Mountain View never came closer than six points in the second half, their offense frustrated by cold shooting and stringent Lady Panther defense. The Lady Buffaloes shot just 24 percent from the floor.

PHS also struggled against a tough Mountain View defense led by the presence of 6'5” Stephanie Smith and 6'3” Emily Smith. Pollart and Donarski, however, kept the PHS offense rolling with a combined 31 points — 17 of them coming from the free throw line. As a team, Powell made 18 of 25 free throw attempts, while Mountain View sunk just five of 15.

At the end of the third, Powell led 29-18, and they wrapped things up with a 14-point win.

Pollart (17 points), Donarski (14 points), and Kipp (6 points) made up the Lady Panther's scoring. Danforth said Leslie Thronburg did a “great job” managing the offense. As a team, PHS had just 15 turnovers, one of their lowest totals of the season.

On Friday night, Lyman (4-14 overall, 0-11 in conference play) fell behind early against Powell, but used timely 3-point shooting to stay in the game — sinking a total of six shots from beyond the arc.

The biggest came at the end of the first quarter. After inbounding the ball with 3.1 seconds on the clock, Lyman's Shai Russell canned a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from about 10 feet past the half-court line to make it 12-8.

In the second quarter, Powell built up a 10-point lead with about 2:35 left. Lyman again came back with a bucket and another 3-pointer to climb within four.

But Kendra Ostrom answered with a three of her own for Powell, and Kami Cooley followed with a bucket before the buzzer to make it 25-16 at half-time.

Lyman cut the lead to seven points in the third, but by the end of the period, Powell had an expanded 34-23 advantage. PHS cruised in the fourth to the 42-30 win.

Pollart led PHS with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Thronburg followed with 8 points, Donarski with 6, Olivia Rogers and Ostrom with 4 each, Cooley with 2, and Shellie Williams with 1.

This week, the Lady Panthers have only one contest — a 5:30 p.m. Friday road match-up with Lander Valley High School. The Lady Tigers (11-8 overall, 7-4 in conference play) beat PHS 67-63 on Jan. 16.