PHS girls beat Buffalo at home

Posted 12/22/15

“It was fun to get that first win at home in the first game at home,” said PHS head coach Scott McKenzie. “The girls sure like playing at home.”

Powell evened its record at 2-2 heading into the Christmas break and handed Buffalo its first …

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PHS girls beat Buffalo at home

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There was no place like home for the holidays for Powell High School’s girls basketball team, as the Lady Panthers beat Buffalo 41-26 Friday night.

“It was fun to get that first win at home in the first game at home,” said PHS head coach Scott McKenzie. “The girls sure like playing at home.”

Powell evened its record at 2-2 heading into the Christmas break and handed Buffalo its first loss of the season.

“That was our whole main goal against Buffalo — is we just wanted to play better this weekend than last weekend and I thought we did,” McKenzie said, citing improved play from the whole squad.

The Powell girls got out to a nine-point, 16-7 lead in the first quarter.

“We hit some threes early” — including a pair from senior Breanna Donarski — “and we just had great intensity,” McKenzie said.

Buffalo (4-1) opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run to pull within 16-12, but that was as close as the Lady Bison would get.

A basket from senior Danna Hanks snapped a four-minute scoreless streak and started a 13-1 PHS run to close out the half.

The Panthers made the 29-13 advantage stand up in the third and fourth quarters. They never let Buffalo get closer than 13, although the Lady Bison did outscore PHS 13-12 in the second half.

“We slowed down offensively in the second half — Buffalo did some nice adjustments — but I thought we kept good composure and just relied on our defense,” McKenzie said. “And I thought we made free throws down the stretch pretty well.”

Donarski led the team with 11 points and also collected eight rebounds.

“Your point guard gets eight, that’s pretty impressive,” said McKenzie.

Hanks, meanwhile, posted a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, while also dishing out six assists.

McKenzie attributed her 13 boards from the guard position to “guts and determination.”

Senior Richelle Phister had six points and five assists. She and Hanks “did a nice job finding the open person,” McKenzie said.

Juniors Dani Asay and Tayli Stenerson each added five points, while junior Jennifer Bonander and sophomore Mariah Phister each had two points.

“I thought Tayli came in and gave us a good spark from the bench,” McKenzie said, praising her aggressive play.

The coach added that Asay, Bonander and Mariah Phister “all got on the boards well” in collecting 15 rebounds between them.

All told, PHS grabbed a season-best 41 rebounds.

The Panthers made 4 of 16 shots (25 percent) from beyond the 3-point line, while sinking 10 of 23 tries (43 percent) from 2-point range.

The girls also made 9 of 16 free throws (56 percent). That was a significant improvement from the opening weekend, when PHS made just 36 percent of their free throw tries.

The Panthers will resume their season Jan. 7-9 at the Big Horn Basin Classic at Rocky Mountain High School in Cowley. PHS will be shooting for a third straight tournament victory.

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