Everyone knew the Panther girls had their work cut out for them, but they never stopped scrapping.

The hoops ladies of PHS hosted 3A No. 6 Worland on Friday night, followed less than 24 hours later by second-ranked Lander on Saturday afternoon.

Worland took Friday’s game 46-20. Saturday it was Lander 53, the Panthers 25.

“Worland and Lander are two tough teams to have to face back to back, because they both have the majority of their starters back for this year, which brings them a lot of experience for us to overcome this early,” said PHS head coach Chelsea Buher. “The [Powell] girls continue to do more things right, however, it’s different things that we do better on different nights.”

“... As soon as we are able to piece a few of those good things together I believe we will begin to see closer games and some success for these girls,” she said.

Worland 46, Powell 20

Powell drew first blood against Worland on Friday, when Hailee Hyde hit a turnaround bunny to put her team in front, 2-0. However, by the quarter break it was the Warriors 13, Panthers 4.

In the second quarter, Worland scored 13 more while PHS remained stuck and the half ended 26-4.

Madison Fields brought the home crowd to its feet with a pair of threes just 2:10 from each other on the third-period clock, followed by a two for eight of her team-high 11 points. That brought Powell to 12 on the scoreboard to 34 for the Warriors at the end of three.

To the 11 from Fields, Kortny Feller added three. It was two points each for Hyde, Rose Graft and Rylynn Valdez; Graft added five rebounds and five steals, as well. The Panthers got to the line only three times and converted none.

Buher noted her hustling Panthers played the Warriors within four points in the second half — 20-16 — which was encouraging.

“I thought the girls played hard and that they executed the new defense we played against Worland pretty well,” the coach said.

Lander 53, Powell 25

The Tigers (8-3) stated their intentions early with a run to 16-5 at the first-period buzzer. Panther points came from a bunny by Hyde — give the assist to Feller — and a driving layup through traffic from Maddie Campbell.

By halftime the Tigers were up 28-13 and after three it was Lander by 22 points, 38-16. Fields hit a three in the final seconds of the game that left fans with something to cheer about at the end.

Paije Johnson led the Panthers with seven points and seven rebounds. Graft had six points and five rebounds, while Fields had five points and six rebounds. Powell was 6-of-17 at the line.

The Panthers host Lovell on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

“They work hard,” coach Buher said of her players, “and I know that they will continue to work hard.”

Worland 46, Powell 20

Worland — Hernandez 23, Crippen 11, Jones 8, Wassum 2, Yule 2.

Powell — Fields 11, Feller 3, Hyde 2, Graft 2, Valdez 2.

Lander 53, Powell 25

Lander — Boyce 12, Ferris 12, Stauffenberg 10, Winfield 8, Crane 6, Brown 4, Bell 1.

Powell — Johnson 7, Graft 6, Field 5, Campbell 4, Hyde 3.