Beat Lyman, Mountain View at home

There were no ruby red basketball shoes on the court, but it was still apparent there’s no place like home for the Lady Panther basketball team.

Ending a stretch in which they lost five of six games, mostly on the road, the Powell High School girls claimed a 47-44 overtime win over Lyman on Friday night, then pummeled Mountain View 46-12 on Saturday.

The wins vaulted the Lady Panthers (8-9 overall, 5-6 in Class 3A West) from sixth to fourth place in the conference.

“We’ve been on the far reaches of the western side of the state for months now, and it was good to get home and not have to travel far to play a game,” said PHS head coach Luke Danforth, adding that he was “really proud” of the team’s efforts over the weekend.

The contest against Lyman (3-14, 1-10) looked as though it might go the Lady Panthers’ way early.

The team built a 20-11 lead in the second quarter, but the Lady Eagles mounted a comeback. By halftime, the PHS advantage was down to 20-17, and Lyman went ahead in the third quarter, 22-20, to complete an 11-0 run.

The teams then hovered between a tie and a couple points of separation the rest of the way.

Powell opened up a four-point, 31-27, advantage in the fourth quarter, but Lyman again came back with a 9-0 run and staked a 36-31 lead.

Down by five, Alyssa Hildebrand made a basket to cut it to three; Kendra Ostrom followed with a 3-pointer to knot things back up.

“They didn’t drop their heads, just kept plugging away,” said Danforth.

Becky Dent later converted a 3-point play to put Powell up 39-37, but Lyman’s Tiffani Dennis knocked down a pair of free throws late to send the 39-39 game into overtime.

In the bonus period, PHS shot a perfect three-for-three from the floor (with baskets from Ostrom, Tess Mitchell and Amy Danforth) and two-for-two from the free throw line (from Kadi Cooley) to outpace LHS.

Coach Danforth called it a “great team win,” noting the contributions of many girls.

Ostrom led Powell with 16 points — including four-of-six shooting from 3-point range. Dent recorded a double-double with 12 points and a season-best 13 rebounds.

Amy Danforth had eight points and nine rebounds. Hildebrand had five points, followed by four from Mitchell and the two from Cooley.

The Lady Panthers started slow on Saturday, and so did Mountain View, which was playing without 6-5 Stephanie Smith. The teams played to a 4-4 tie in the first quarter. Dent helped the Lady Panthers get going, sinking the team’s first six points.

With about 30 seconds gone in the second quarter, Mountain View made a basket to pull into a 6-6 tie. Unfortunately for the Lady Buffaloes, they would make only one more field goal — a layup with 23 seconds remaining in the game.

In the time in between, Powell outscored Mountain View 40-6.

“Give credit to our defense, they held (Mountain View) just to eight points in the first half and really picked up there at halftime,” said Coach Danforth.

PHS entered the half up 15-8, then pulled away in a third quarter where they outscored the Lady Buffaloes 17-1. Mountain View couldn’t make a comeback.

“Everybody played well,” said Coach Danforth.

Dent, continuing a strong weekend, bested Ostrom’s 16 points from the night before to record a season-best 17 points and also had five steals. Ostrom again hit double digits with 10 points. Amy Danforth added six points and nine rebounds; Mitchell joined her with six points. Hildebrand scored four points and Cooley three.

The Lady Panthers will stay at home this weekend as well.

On Friday, at 5:45 p.m. the girls will play host to Pinedale (8-12 overall, 4-7 in Class 3A West), who will be looking to leapfrog the PHS girls in the conference standings. Saturday’s action will feature a 12:45 p.m. matchup with Lander (12-7, 8-3) in the Panther Gym.

Coach Danforth noted an earlier loss to Lander this season in which PHS fell behind early and couldn’t quite catch up.

“I think the girls are looking forward to seeing Lander again on our home floor,” he said.