Defending their home court and boosting their chances for a top seed in the postseason, the Powell High School’s girls basketball team upset Star Valley and easily handled Jackson on Friday and Saturday.

“As the season rolls along, you always hope your team can beat some ranked teams and show your character a bit,” said PHS head coach Scott McKenzie.

That’s what the Powell girls did Friday, when they came back to edge Star Valley, 42-40.

On Saturday, PHS stomped Jackson 59-33.

The wins mean that Powell (11-6 overall, 4-0 in Class 3A Northwest) only needs to win one of their remaining two games to claim the northwest’s top seed at the Class 3A West regional tournament.

Of course, “we hope to just win both this weekend and keep things rolling,” McKenzie said.

Powell 42, Star Valley 40

Star Valley, 11-4 overall and ranked No. 3 in WyoPreps.com’s coaches and media poll, led by as many eight points in the second quarter. They were up 27-22 at the half.

McKenzie said one thing the team discussed in the locker room — beyond making a couple defensive adjustments — was that “we hadn’t really played very well” and had an

opportunity to turn it around.

Powell opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 28-27 lead. The teams would stay within three points of each other the rest of the way.

Star Valley was clinging to a 37-36 edge with less than two minutes remaining. PHS senior Danna Hanks put the Lady Panthers back up with a put-back, then made a coast-to-coast lay-up to give Powell a 40-37 lead.

The Lady Panthers would leave the door open for Star Valley by making only 2-of-6 free throws in the final minute. However, they also kept up the defensive pressure that thwarted Star Valley throughout the second half — including a “big huge block” from freshman Rachel Bonander in the closing seconds, McKenzie said.

“Our defense in the second half was definitely the key,” he said. “We did a nice job of reading what they (Star Valley) wanted to do and defending it well.”

The Lady Braves scored only 13 points in the last two quarters.

“They turned the ball over a lot, and I thought we stayed pretty steady offensively,” McKenzie said.

Hanks led the team with 17 points and made it a double-double by collecting 10 of the team’s 24 rebounds.

Senior Breanna Donarski also cracked double digits with 13 points.

Rachel Bonander added five points and three blocks. Senior Richelle Phister had three points and five steals. Junior Jennifer Bonander also had three points and sophomore Maddy Hanks had one.

Junior Dani Asay also “got some big boards for us” in collecting four rebounds, McKenzie said.

PHS shot 15-of-40 (38 percent) from the floor and 11-of-19 (58 percent) from the free throw line. The team collected 12 steals while only five of their 17 turnovers were unforced.

“Just a great effort from everyone,” McKenzie said, adding, “It was definitely a big win.”

Powell 59, Jackson 33

Powell made a decisive 12-0 run in the late first and early second quarters to take a 22-8 lead. It effectively put the game away from the Lady Broncs (1-18 overall).

“They (Jackson) were hot early, they stayed with us there for awhile, but I thought our defense finally wore on them,” McKenzie said.

While Powell’s full court pressure undid Jackson, the Lady Panthers got to the free throw line 11 times in the first half and sank all 11 to help build a 37-15 lead.

Jackson played a 1-3-1 zone defense — one Powell hadn’t faced before — and it gave the Lady Panthers a chance to get both 6’1” Jennifer Bonander and 6’2” Rachel Bonander on the court.

“Rachel and Jennifer really played well together,” McKenzie said. “It was great to get them in a game together at the same time and see what they could do.”

The entire Lady Panther bench got a chance to play in the game.

“Some of these girls don’t get on the floor a lot, so it was nice where we could get everybody in, kind of reward them,” McKenzie said. “They’ve worked hard this season.”

Donarski had 16 points to pace the offense. Jennifer Bonander scored 11 points, a season high. Danna Hanks had nine points and six rebounds. Junior Tayli Stenerson had six points (sinking all six of her free throws). Maddy Hanks had five points and Phister, Asay and Rachel Bonander each added four points.

Asay led with seven rebounds.

Donarski, Danna Hanks and Phister each had five assists, while Stenerson added four.

“The guards did a really good job of penetrating and giving the ball up,” McKenzie said.

The team shot 19-of-48 (40 percent) from the floor and 20-of-23 (87 percent) from the free throw line.

PHS will close out its regular season with two home conference games. They’ll host Lovell (12-5 overall, 3-1 in Class 3A Northwest) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday and Cody (3-16, 0-5) at the same time on Friday. Friday’s contest will serve as a send-off for PHS’ seniors.

“It’d be nice if folks could come and pay tribute to both (boys and girls) teams,” McKenzie said.

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