Panther junior varsity girls .500 to start season

Posted 12/29/20

Powell High School girls’ junior varsity basketball team followed a 1-1 opening weekend with another split, falling to Cody and defeating Rocky Mountain earlier this month.

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Panther junior varsity girls .500 to start season

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Powell High School girls’ junior varsity basketball team followed a 1-1 opening weekend with another split, falling to Cody and defeating Rocky Mountain earlier this month.

Against Cody, on Dec. 17, the Fillies cruised to a win. A 29-12 Cody lead at halftime proved too wide, as the Fillies won 45-25.

Though Powell did a nice job of drawing fouls early on, quickly getting into the bonus, the Panthers were unable to take advantage of these opportunities. PHS finished the game 5-of-22 from the line.

“Those empty trips against such a quality team were too much to overcome,” PHS coach Troy Hildebrand said.

Freshman Addy Thorington was Powell’s offensive leader with 14 points in three quarters. Kami Jensen also made her mark with seven points in two quarters’ work. Defensively, Grace Coombs and Blake Nissen “did a solid job inside against a couple of strong Cody post players,” the coach said.

Two days later, however, the Panthers ended up on the right side of the scoreboard. Sound play on both ends of the floor paved the way for a 42-26 win over the Grizzlies.

“This was easily our best outing of the season so far,” Hildebrand said.

After trailing by one point after the first quarter, a 16-9 second period propelled the Panthers to an eight-point halftime lead. Powell’s press led to easy baskets and allowed it to expand the margin, ultimately winning 42-26.

In the win, every player contributed, with eight Panthers showing up in the points column and others adding valuable assists, rebounds and steals.

Megan Jacobsen and Thorington tied for the most points on the team with nine apiece. Other key contributions came from Gretel Opps and Abi Urbach, who added seven and six points, respectively.

“We played very hard on both ends of the floor, and the girls really fed off of the momentum they created for themselves,” Hildebrand said. “Rocky Mountain has a nice JV team and quite a bit of size inside that we had to deal with and the girls stepped up.”

PHS is now 2-2 and set to return to the hardwood on Saturday, Jan. 9. That’s when the Panthers face Rocky Mountain at 4 p.m.

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