A long weekend trip to face Class 3A West conference opponents Pinedale and Jackson proved fruitful for the Powell High School girls basketball team.

The Lady Panthers (3-2 overall, 2-0 in conference play) took down Pinedale 32-21 Friday and beat Jackson’s Lady Broncs 47-40 on Saturday.

“All in all, a good weekend for the Lady Panthers,” said PHS head coach Luke Danforth.

The Lady Panthers were short-handed in the contests, with senior Leslie Thronburg and sophomore Becky Dent unable to make the trip, but “I thought a lot of people stepped up,” Danforth said.

On Friday night, the PHS girls found themselves trailing Pinedale 13-10 at the half.

The Lady Panthers responded by outscoring Pinedale 22-8 in the final two quarters.

Danforth credited extra effort and energy for making the difference. As discussed at halftime, Danforth said the Powell squad attacked the basket and Pinedale’s zone defense more aggressively. The coach said the Lady Panthers also did a better job of rebounding, cutting down on the Lady Wrangler’s second chances.

The Lady Panthers had some struggles from the floor, shooting 26 percent — but Pinedale had an even tougher go of it, shooting 22 percent.

Pinedale was held to only two field goals in the second half, Danforth said — one being a three-pointer in the game’s closing seconds.

Sophomore Alyssa Hildebrand led the Lady Panthers in scoring, picking up 10 points.

Junior Kendra Ostrom added seven points, senior Olivia Rogers chipped in six, sophomore Tess Mitchell five, senior Randy Asay three and sophomore Amy Danforth one.

After heading up to Jackson early Saturday morning, Powell played the JHS Lady Broncs to a 9-9 draw in the first quarter.

PHS was up 21-15 in the closing minute of the second quarter, but Jackson managed to pick up six points and tie the game up at the half.

Aided by a late bucket froma Mitchell — off one of Hildebrand’s eight assists in the contest — the Lady Panthers took a 33-28 lead at the end of the third and hung on from there.

“Again I thought the difference on Saturday between us and Jackson was just our assertiveness in attacking the basket,” Coach Danforth said.

Rogers led PHS with 14 points and was just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds. Asay broke into double-digits to lead in rebounding, registering 11 boards.

Mitchell contributed nine points, sophomore Kadi Cooley and Hildebrand each added seven, Ostrom six, and Danforth and Asay two a piece.

This week, The Lady Panthers will play their first home games of the season this week.

On Thursday at 5:45 p.m., PHS will host Lovell’s Lady Bulldogs. Last week, the Lady Bulldogs were ranked as Class 2A’s top team in the WyoPreps.com Coaches and Media Poll.

On Saturday at 4 p.m., the Panther gym will play host to Buffalo from Class 3A’s eastern conference. WyoPreps.com’s poll ranked the Lady Bison as Class 3A’s top squad last week.

“Both (Lovell and Buffalo) are going to be very formidable opponents,” Coach Danforth said.