PHS girls look to defend title

Coming off the first championship in school history, the Powell High School girls basketball team has prepared for the upcoming season with something basic: hard work.

“They want to defend the great season we had last year,” said PHS head coach Scott McKenzie.

The Lady Panthers begin their 2015-16 campaign on Friday, starting a quest for a 10th straight trip to the Class 3A State Basketball Tournament and a run at a second-straight title.

“The girls’ attitudes and efforts so far have been tremendous — working hard, getting better every day,” McKenzie said. “We’re just going to enjoy this journey and see where it takes us this year.”

He describes his group of varsity players — which includes returning starters/All Conference players Danna Hanks and Breanna Donarski — as small, quick and having “a lot of guts.”

Only one Lady Panther measures above 5 feet, 9 inches tall, but McKenzie said his squad features good all-around speed.

“We’ll have to use that to our advantage to get some easy baskets,” he said, predicting the team may have to play some “small ball.”

“We’re pretty explosive. We truly are,” McKenzie said.

The team lost its two leading scorers (All State players Jenni Ebersberger and Kalina Smith) to graduation and a move to the Gillette area, respectively, so “early on here, we’re going to have to find out where our scoring’s going to come from,” the coach said.

“We have a lot of potential there for scoring, so it will be a matter of the girls figuring out who’s going to score and when,” McKenzie said.

Hanks and Donarski provided considerable offense last year, ranking third and fourth on the team with averages of 8.6 and 8.3 points per game, respectively.

McKenzie said the team will rely on the pair “a lot.”

“They’re two of the best leaders we’ve had that demonstrate by doing; just tough gritty girls,” McKenzie said.

Other seniors who’ll be called upon this year are Richelle Phister, “a good outside shooting threat” who played in every varsity contest last year, and Lexee Craig, who “provides a good spark for us on the floor,” McKenzie said.

From PHS’ junior class, McKenzie said Dani Asay (who played in every game a year ago) should bring some speed and quickness inside, while 6’1” Jennifer Bonander (“our height this year”) and speedy guard Tayli Stenerson will take on bigger roles.

Rounding out the initial varsity roster are two sophomores: guard Maddy Hanks and post player Mariah Phister.

A couple of juniors, Rachelle Cole and Nicole Sanders, start the year on the junior varsity team.

“We’re hoping they provide good leadership on the JV there and battle for a varsity uniform,” McKenzie said.

Three more sophomores (Olivia Hobby, Alli Sommerville and Jordan Walsh) complete the opening JV roster. With numbers a little thin, the JV may draw from some of the 11 freshmen out for basketball this year, McKenzie said.

In addition to losing Ebersberger, Smith and Megan Wagner (to graduation), the PHS squad will go without senior Anissa Warner. Warner saw significant varsity minutes last year, but chose to compete in indoor track this winter.

“We lost a lot,” McKenzie said, but “we’re really excited for this season.”

The Powell girls were one of the state’s leading defensive teams in their championship run a year ago and their coach expects a strong defense this year.

“We always rely on our defense, always take pride in it,” he said.

The Lady Panthers (22-4 last year) start the new season at the East/West Classic tournament in Buffalo at 3 p.m. Friday. They’ll face Newcastle, who finished 8-14 a year ago.

On Saturday, PHS faces Wheatland (15-12 last year) at 8 a.m. and Rawlins (22-3) at 2:30 p.m.

McKenzie said Powell has a tough schedule for 2015-16 and he sees a number of teams — including Star Valley, Lovell, Mountain View and Worland — as potential 3A contenders.

“I hope we’re right in the mix with those ... teams,” he said.