Take third at regional tourney

After a tough loss to Mountain View on Friday night, Powell High School’s girls basketball team had to win a Saturday morning match-up with Pinedale to earn a trip to the state tournament.

“You always worry that they’re going to be nervous and lots of pressure to win, but they had great poise,” PHS head coach Scott McKenzie said of his squad. “You could just sense that they were going to win, you know?”

The Powell girls (16-7 on the year) convincingly beat Pinedale, 53-32.

“That punched our ticket to get a chance to go defend our title,” McKenzie said.

Later in the day, PHS beat Lovell, 52-46, to take third place at the Class 3A West tournament and earn a No. 3 seed at this week’s state tourney.

“When you play for third and fourth, that’s your second game of the day (and) you wonder if the girls have enough in them to play a fourth game in three days, mentally and physically, and they played well,” McKenzie said.

PHS opened its tournament in Star Valley with a 64-18 drubbing of Jackson before being kept out of the regional championship game by a 33-31 loss to Mountain View.

Powell 64, Jackson 18

PHS didn’t waste much time in jumping all over the Lady Broncs (1-21) on Thursday morning. Powell led 31-13 at the half, then outscored Jackson 33-5 in the third and fourth quarters.

“It was a good first game for us,” said McKenzie, especially praising the team’s defense.

Dani Asay broke out for 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor. She also led the team with seven rebounds and five steals.

“Man, Dani had a great tournament for us,” McKenzie said of the junior, who amassed 39 points over the weekend. “She just really got the feel — and what a great time for her to show up for us.”

The coach credited all of the team’s post-players on an overall “great tournament to compliment those guards.”

Senior Breanna Donarski had nine points, senior Danna Hanks and junior Jennifer Bonander each added eight, senior Richelle Phister had seven points, freshman Rachel Bonander six, sophomore Mariah Phister five, sophomore Maddy Hanks four and junior Tayli Stenerson added two. Rachel Bonander had a team-best five assists.

“Everyone contributed,” McKenzie said.

As a team, Powell shot 24-of-47 from the floor (51 percent) and went 14-of-23 (61 percent) from the free throw line.

Mountain View 33, Powell 31

Powell led for most of the low-scoring affair.

“We played pretty well, but just didn’t finish,” McKenzie said.

Just before the buzzer sounded on the first period, Donarski knocked down a 3-pointer to put Powell up 13-10.

Powell led by as many as six in the second quarter, but Mountain View (17-6 overall) battled back to trail 20-19 at the half.

The Lady Buffaloes made a couple quick baskets to open the third quarter and take a 23-20 lead.

Donarski answered with a jumper; Rachel Bonander then hit a free throw, and, when she missed the second, Hanks grabbed the offensive rebound and got the put-back. A couple minutes later, Richelle Phister drained a 3-pointer and Powell was up, 29-23.

Unfortunately, that would be PHS’ last field goal as they’d manage just two free throws in the final 11 minutes of the contest; they would only attempt one shot in the fourth quarter.

“We just really stopped our offensive attack and just were playing not to lose,” McKenzie said. “Good lesson to learn there.”

Mountain View pushed ahead, 30-29, with about three minutes left.

Stenerson countered by hitting two free throws and putting Powell back on top. Mountain View’s Alexis Stoddard then made a deep 3-pointer to make it 33-31.

PHS turned the ball over on its next possession. Mountain View got the ball with 2:11 remaining and would be able to run all but 26 seconds off the clock.

The Powell girls finally got another offensive chance when Mountain View missed the front end of a one-and-one and Jennifer Bonander grabbed the rebound.

However, Mountain View intercepted a PHS pass in the final seconds to hang on for the win; McKenzie said Mountain View did a good job of

seeing through some misdirection and thwarting the play.

Danna Hanks and Jennifer Bonander each had eight points while Donarski had seven. Richelle Phister and Rachel Bonander each added three points and Stenerson had two.

Hanks and Donarski both paced the team with eight rebounds while Rachel Bonander blocked five shots.

The Powell team made 12-of-36 (33 percent) of their shots from the field and 4-of-8 (50 percent) free throw attempts.

Powell 53, Pinedale 32

Powell had to get up early for Saturday’s 8:30 a.m. loser-out game and “those are always stressful, because it’s win or go home at that point,” McKenzie said.

PHS’ current players had never been in that position at regionals before, but McKenzie said the girls prepared well.

Pinedale (12-11 on the season) trailed just 13-11 early in the second quarter, but Powell closed out the half on a 17-5 run. They followed that up with a 19-3 third quarter to take complete control, 43-19.

Asay again led PHS with 12 points. Rachel Bonander joined her in double figures with 10 points. Donarski added nine points, Jennifer Bonander had eight, Danna Hanks and Richelle Phister scored six apiece, and Maddy Hanks had two.

“A great team effort again,” McKenzie said.

Donarski led the team with nine assists (a season high) and Richelle Phister dished out another eight.

“That’s seeing the whole floor,” McKenzie said.

Danna Hanks had seven rebounds.

PHS shot 13-of-35 (46 percent) from the floor and 18-of-28 (64 percent) from the free throw line.

Powell 52, Lovell 46

Powell overcame an early five-point deficit to take a 31-22 advantage to the half.

In the third quarter, the Lady Panthers used 13 points from the Bonanders and Asay — who had back-to-back 3-point plays — to lead as much as 44-31.

McKenzie said there was a conscious effort over the weekend to capitalize on PHS’ size and put a greater emphasis on getting the ball inside.

“At tourney time, it really paid off, so they have good confidence going into Casper,” McKenzie said of his post players.

As has become the norm in contests between the two teams — McKenzie called it “a true Powell-Lovell game” — the Lady Bulldogs (15-8 overall) began chipping into the 13-point lead.

With about a minute and a half remaining, Lovell’s Mykelle Nichols got a steal and a lay-up to bring her team within four, 50-46.

Lovell got the ball back with about 47 seconds left, but Asay knocked it loose in the paint; Danna Hanks picked up the loose ball and found Richelle Phister streaking toward the basket for a game-clinching lay-up.

Jennifer Bonander added one final block (her fifth) to stifle any last-second heroics.

Rachel Bonander erupted for 17 points and 13 rebounds.

“How about that?” McKenzie asked rhetorically. “A double-double for a frosh.”

Asay also turned in 12 points (going 3-of-4 from the floor and 6-of-8 from the line) and nine rebounds.

Jennifer Bonander scored six points, followed by five for Donarski, and four apiece from Danna Hanks, Richelle Phister and Stenerson. Stenerson also contributed eight assists.

Powell shot 17-of-37 from the floor (46 percent) and 18-of-23 (78 percent) from the line.

The Lady Panthers begin their quest to defend their 3A title on Thursday with a 4:30 p.m. match-up against Newcastle (19-4 overall) at the Casper Events Center.