Coach proud of 'great' season

Powell’s trip to the Class 3A state basketball tournament ended sooner than hoped.

The Powell High School girls lost to Newcastle, 44-30, in their opening Thursday game, then were edged by Torrington in overtime, 44-40, on Friday.

Between some sickness, injuries and some stone-cold shooting, things “just didn’t work out” at state, said PHS head coach Scott McKenzie.

However, he remained proud of his squad.

“They played hard and I thought they represented Powell well — and they played till the bitter end,” McKenzie said.

The Lady Panthers finished their season with an overall record of 16-10. McKenzie called it a “great year.”

Newcastle 44, Powell 30

Newcastle’s Lady Dogies — who finshed as the 3A runner-up to Worland — grabbed the lead for good in the first quarter.

“Newcastle just was on fire, and just built that lead that we couldn’t really recover from,” McKenzie  said.

The Dogies led by as much as 11 points in the second quarter before Powell battled back to trail 21-15 at halftime.

However, Newcastle’s Alyssa Dawson set the tone for the second half by hitting a 3-pointer on the team’s first possession.

By the end of the third quarter, Newcastle led by 13 points, 34-21.

A 3-pointer from PHS senior Breanna Donarski brought Powell to within eight, 38-30, with a little more than two and a half minutes left in the game. Unfortunately, the Lady Panthers wouldn’t score again.

“I thought the girls played hard and they just didn’t shoot well,” McKenzie said, adding “they (Newcastle) are a good team, and in the (Casper) Events Center, you’ve got to shoot better.”

Powell sank only 22.2 percent of its shots from the floor (10-of-45) and 46.2 percent from the free throw line (6-of-13). Newcastle shot 17-of-35 (48.6 percent) from the floor and 8-of-15 (53.3 percent) from the line.

Donarski led Powell with 12 points, followed by five for senior Danna Hanks and four for junior Dani Asay, who battled through shoulder problems. Junior Jennifer Bonander, sophomore Tayli Stenerson and freshman Rachel Bonander each added three points while Hanks collected a team-best seven rebounds.

Torrington 44, Powell 40 (OT)

About midway through the second quarter of Friday morning’s consolation bracket game, senior Richelle Phister — sick and playing through a fever — knocked down a 3-pointer to put Powell up 16-10 over Torrington.

However, that would be the largest advantage for either team in a game with 11 lead changes. By halftime at Casper College, Torrington had knotted things up at 18-all.

Powell pushed back ahead by three in the third quarter, then Torrington went ahead by four early in the fourth; Phister’s third 3-pointer of the day soon helped reel Torrington back in.

After trading the lead back and forth, Donarski sank two huge free throws to make it 38-37, Lady Panthers, with less than a minute left.

However, Torrington would make 1-of-3 free throw tries over their next two possessions to tie the game at 38.

The Lady Panthers had one last possession to try winning the game, but they weren’t able to get a good shot. The game went to overtime.

McKenzie thought the team was set to run its last offensive play, but in retrospect, “I should have called timeout,” he said.

“I thought we would get them in overtime,” he added. “And we just missed some good looks at the basket.”

The two teams traded misses at the free throw line until Torrington’s Madison Haun sank a 3-pointer to make it 41-38. Powell wasn’t able to overcome the deficit in the final two minutes of the game.

“I thought the girls played their hearts out,” McKenzie said of his Lady Panthers. He pointed to the team’s sub-par 4-for-11 performance at the free throw line (36.4 percent) as a possible difference maker.

Another telling statistic: Torrington scored 21 points off Powell’s 25 turnovers. (PHS got four points from 14 Lady Trailblazer turnovers.)

Powell shot 16-of-47 (34 percent) from the floor.

Jennifer Bonander led the team with 12 points (on 6-of-9 shooting) and nine rebounds. Donarski (seven rebounds) and Phister each added nine points, while Asay and Rachel Bonander had four points and Hanks two.

Thankful for support, looking forward

McKenzie thanked his players’ parents, school administrators, PHS fans and his assistant coaches — Troy Hildebrand and Gary Phister — for all their support this season.

The coach also praised the “phenomenal” leadership of his three seniors: Donarski, Hanks and Richelle Phister.

“I thought they kept us level-headed this season,” McKenzie said. “And I’m sure going to miss them.”

The coach said he’s also looking forward to the future of the program.

“We have some good experience coming back, we have some young girls that are going to be coming in that have played a lot of basketball, and we hope to meld those groups together and see what happens in the years to come,” McKenzie said.