Another successful season for the seventh grade girls’ basketball team resulted in a championship appearance against rival Cody, but the Cubs came up short against the Fillies, who handed them all three losses during the season.

The season started off fast for the Powell Middle School girls, as they won their first five games by double digits. Their closest game in the early season came against Lovell, when they won by 17 points.

“This team came in with a lot of skills and a lot of talent and that made my job a lot easier,” head coach Bryan Bonander said.

Cody proved a tougher challenge. In their first matchup, the Fillies won by double digits, 30-19, and handed the Cubs their first loss of the season.

The Powell seventh graders then rattled off four more wins in a row with no scores within 13 points; a game against Lovell was again the closest.

A rematch with Cody
followed and Powell played the rivals closer, losing a tight contest, 24-19.

A win against Burlington set up the Cubs as the two seed at the conference tournament, and they picked up a dominating opening round win over Riverton, 52-18.

A back and forth contest with Lovell followed in the semifinals. Despite not getting within 10 points, the Bulldogs made the Cubs work for a 43-32 win, which put Powell’s seventh graders in the championship game in Thermopolis.

In the Cubs’ third and final match with Cody, the two teams went back and forth, tied at 15 points at halftime.

Then the second half started.

“The third quarter for whatever reason has been our nemesis all season,” Bonander said.

Cody outscored the Cubs 11-0 in the third quarter. After Bonander put a press on, Powell battled back into the game and pulled within two points at 28-26, but the Cubs ran out of gas and Cody was able to pull ahead for a 37-26 win.

The second-place finish at the conference tournament capped an impressive 12-3 season for the Cubs 

Powell’s seventh graders finished with an overall record of 12-3.

Emery Hernandez led the way at point guard, Kaedenze Carter started at the shooting guard position, Madi Valdez started at small forward, and the two bigs were Sidney Costello and Leah Graham.

“The starting five of this team is probably the best I have ever seen for this grade,” Bonander said.

With Costello and Graham standing at about 5 feet and 7-8 inches tall, they were some of the tallest girls Bonander has ever had at this grade level.

Most of the girls play on a traveling basketball team, so they were able to bring experience to the squad — and it allowed them to start at a more advanced level compared to years past.

Kate Mainwaring was the primary sixth man for the team while Ava Gilliatt, Ava Brewer and Gabi Gernhart helped provide a nine-man rotation.

One of Bonander’s best stories from the season came when the coach announced he was going to give the team a Friday practice off going into the weekend — only to have his players become frustrated and say they needed more practice in order to get better.

“As a coach you love to hear that,” Bonander said. “Usually the kids cheer when I tell them they are getting practice off.”