Rallying from a first-half deficit — and a lopsided loss the night before — the Lady Panthers basketball team came back in Cody to keep a perfect record in conference play.

Powell High School’s 37-32 Friday night win over Cody’s Filles put the girls’ record at 8-7 overall and 3-0 in Class 3A Northwest. The victory followed a 53-25 loss to Worland on Thursday at home.

“Our goal was to compete against Worland the best we could, but our focus was for Friday — a conference game on the road — and, you know, we met our goal there. We were able to steal that game against Cody,” said PHS head coach Scott McKenzie.

Powell 37, Cody 32

Cody — which McKenzie calls “much better” than their 2-13 overall record — took an 11-6 lead early in the second quarter.

When Powell battled back to seize a 12-11 edge, the Fillies made a 7-0 run for a 18-12 lead at the half.

“They played hard and they played well and they competed,” McKenzie said of the Fillies, who are 0-3 in Class 3A Northwest.

“Cody’s going to beat some teams before this is all said and done,” the PHS coach said.

However, the Lady Panthers made sure they wouldn’t be one of those teams — mounting a comeback in the third and early fourth quarters.

As the teams neared the midway point of the final period, the Powell girls had built a strong 31-21 lead.

McKenzie said Cody had scouted the Lady Panthers well — “they were at our spots before we were offensively” in the first half, he said — so the team broke out a new scheme that keyed Powell’s big run.

“It was nice to have that ‘Plan B,’ if you will, ready to go, and the girls did a good job of executing it,” McKenzie said.

PHS’ guards all did well in getting to the rim in the second half, while the post players did a good job on the boards, he said.

Cody cut the lead to five in the closing minutes, but seniors Danna Hanks and Breanna Donarski each converted one-and-one free throws — sinking four straight in the final minute — to help seal the win.

Powell shot 14-of-37 (38 percent) and 8-of-11 (73 percent) from the free throw line.

Donarski paced PHS with 13 points.

Hanks posted her seventh double-double of the year with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Senior Richelle Phister had six points, followed by four for junior Jennifer Bonander and two apiece for junior Dani Asay and freshman Rachel Bonander.

Rachel Bonander blocked five Filly shots in the game — a season high. When three blocks from Phister and three from Jennifer Bonander are added in, “that’s got to be a single-game record for the Lady Panthers,” McKenzie said.

Powell had 16 turnovers — only five being unforced — so “that’s getting way better for us,” McKenzie said.

Worland 53, Powell 25

Powell got out to a quick 6-2 lead in Thursday night’s home game, but Worland (15-0 overall) responded with a 9-0 run to take the lead for good.

The Lady Panthers would manage only eight points over the second and third quarters, falling behind 41-16. They couldn’t gain any ground in the fourth quarter.

PHS made 9-of-34 shots from the floor in the game.

“We can’t shoot 26 percent against a team like that and fare very well,” McKenzie said. “We tried to grind a little bit in the second half, meaning to be more patient, but when we got our open looks, we didn’t convert them.”

Powell collected only 25 rebounds and shot 50 percent from the free throw, making for “not a very good game for us,” McKenzie said.

As for the Lady Warriors, “they’re just darn good; you can see why they’re undefeated.”

Danna Hanks led the team with eight points, nine rebounds and six steals. Donarski added five points, Phister had four, Asay and Maddy Hanks each had three and Tayli Stenerson had two.

Powell nearly beat Worland in January before getting doubled up in their last two meetings.

“I think they can play with everybody,” McKenzie said of his squad. “The Worland blowout people would scoff at that, but I think we can play with everybody.”

Powell heads to Lander on Saturday for a 2 p.m. conference game with the Lady Tigers (9-8 overall, 1-2 in Class 3A Northwest). It’s the girls’ last road game within 3A Northwest — and one McKenzie says the team needs “to buckle in and be focused and be ready to go.”

“Every game we’ve asked the girls to do that, they’ve responded,” he said.