With the game on the line, the Powell High School girls basketball team delivered at the line.

Bolstered by strong free throw shooting, the Lady Panthers edged Star Valley 34-31 on Friday night, then pummeled Jackson 55-19 on Saturday.

The two road wins put Powell at 15-3 overall, 3-1 in Class 3A Northwest and give the team a chance to clinch a top seed at the regional tournament.

Powell 34, Star Valley 31

The Lady Panthers and the Lady Braves brought the conference’s two best defenses to the contest.

“We really limited offensive opportunities with each other,” said PHS head coach Scott McKenzie.

Powell led nearly the whole way, but never by more than five points.

A 3-pointer from sophomore Kalina Smith midway through the second quarter had put the Lady Panthers up 17-12, but Star Valley knotted things up, 17-all, by halftime.

It was 25-24 going into the final period.

“It was a good game between two good teams,” McKenzie said. “We found a way (to win) in that fourth quarter.”

In the period’s opening minutes, senior Jenni Ebersberger hit a pair of 3-pointers to help the Lady Panthers open up a five-point, 31-26 lead with about five minutes remaining.

“We ran two set plays for Jenni and she hits both 3-pointers, gigantic shots,” McKenzie said. “We went into our box of goodies and ran something that Star Valley hadn’t had a chance to scout, and it paid off.”

The Lady Braves battled back, though and tied it with about two and a half minutes left.

PHS junior Breanna Donarski hit one of two free throws on the ensuing possession to push Powell back up, 32-31.

Star Valley headed to the line with a chance to tie and possibly take the lead with about 55 seconds remaining. However, the home team missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Lady Panthers grabbed the rebound.

Junior Danna Hanks was fouled and knocked down two free throws — as part of a 5 for 6 showing from the line — to close out the scoring.

McKenzie said his team hung tough in a boisterous environment.

“People came to watch Star Valley play and they were rooting them on, and our girls handled it really well,” he said.

Ebersberger’s 12 points led the team, followed by six for Smith, five from Hanks, four from Donarski, three from junior Richelle Phister and two each from senior Megan Wagner and sophomore Dani Asay.

PHS actually shot better from the perimeter (going 5 for 14, 36 percent) than inside (4 of 12, 33 percent), but really shined at the free throw line, sinking 11 of 15 attempts (73 percent). In contrast, Star Valley made just 9 of their 19 free throw attempts (47 percent).

Powell collected only three steals (“Star Valley handled our press very well,” McKenzie said) with 12 turnovers.

Powell 55, Jackson 19

It was two minutes into the second quarter before Jackson made its first basket. By that pont, Powell was up 20-2.

The Lady Panthers led 26-7 at the half and 44-11 at the end of the third quarter.

“That was a lot of fun,” McKenzie said of the game.

Everyone on the varsity roster got significant playing time.

Hanks (who “had a great game for us,” said the coach) led with 14 points, followed by 10 from Donarski. The two guards went a combined 11 of 17 from the floor.

Ebersberger and Smith each had eight points, Asay had six, sophomore Tayli Stenerson had four, sophomore Jennifer Bonander had three and Wagner had two.

Asay led with eight rebounds, while adding three blocks and going 6 of 6 from the free throw line.

“She did a lot of great things for us off the bench,” McKenzie said.

Smith had a team-best five blocks.

The Lady Panthers had their first game without a 3-pointer (going 0 for 4 against Jackson), but “everything else was working,” McKenzie said. The team went 22 of 44 (50 percent) from 2-point range and made 11 of 14 free throws (79 percent). They had 13 steals and 15 turnovers.

Powell takes a much shorter road trip on Thursday, when they travel to Cody (1-17 overall, 0-4 in Class 3A Northwest) for a 5:45 p.m. game.

On Saturday, PHS will clash with Lovell (15-3 overall, 4-0 in Class 3A Northwest) at 5:45 p.m. The game will close out the regular season and could determine who gets the northwest’s top seed at the Class 3A West Regional Tournament next weekend.

If Powell can beat Cody on Thursday, and if Lovell beats Lander on Friday, “all the marbles will be on the table,” McKenzie said.