The turnover bug has bitten the Powell High School girls’ basketball team this season and it took another chomp in Friday’s home loss to Cody, 43-16. Powell suffered a lethal 43 turnovers on the night.

A positive, said Panther coach Chelsea Buher, was her team’s progress on defense compared to the last time the teams met — a 40-point Filly win at Cody.

“It was a good defensive showing,” Buher said of Friday’s matchup.

Last time, the Panthers gave up 25 points in the first period alone on the way to 44 in the first half posted by Coach Chris Wagner’s Fillies.

This night was a different story, as Cody led only 7-2 at the end of the first period. By the horn at halftime, the Fillies had netted just 19 to Powell’s five. It was 33-11 after three.

The only easy baskets Cody got were off rebounds, “We made them work for everything else,” Buher noted.

Now if the Panthers could turn turnovers into offense.

“Turning it over after we got through the hard part” of advancing the ball up-court in transition was especially vexing, said Buher.

She praised junior Rose Graft for her job of “holding down [Torrie] Schutzman” of the Fillies. The Cody junior shared game-high scoring honors with 10, but Graft “held her to two points for a lot of the game.”

For her part, Graft led the Panthers with four points. Senior Sabrina Shoopman had a team-best five rebounds.

Heading into next week’s Big Horn Basin Classic at Worland next Friday and Saturday, Buher said she will, “Keep holding them accountable for turnovers and missed layups” to help her inexperienced charges improve those two shortcomings.

Cody 43, Powell 16

Cody — Lake Harrison 10, Schutzman 10, Brittan Bower 9, Teagan Thompson 6, Kennedi Niemann 3, Isabelle Radakovich 3, Allyson Schroeder 2.

Powell — Graft 4, Hailee Hyde 3, Madison Fields 3, Rylynn Valdez 3, Paije Johnson 2, Maddie Campbell 1.