A dominant 2023-24 season for the Powell Panther boys’ junior varsity basketball team, including two separate win streaks of seven-plus, finished with an 18-2 record over the three month season.

The year started with a three game win streak before a close 49-47 loss at home to Cody on Dec. 15.

That was followed by a seven game win-streak which included a 74-57 victory at Cody to avenge the earlier loss.

That streak was snapped on the road at Lovell with a 65-57 loss, the final one of the year for the Panthers.

Powell then finished with eight straight wins, including avenging that Lovell loss with a 54-50 win at home.

“I really believe that there were many players on the JV team which made the difference for us at times during the season,” coach Waleryan Wisniewski said.

The team consisted of five juniors, five sophomores and four freshmen who came up and contributed throughout the season.

“We had a good offensive team that could really put up points and shot it well from the field,” Wisniewski said.

That was shown by the Panthers averaging 62.4 points per game as a team, while giving up 44.7 per contest.

The team averaged 19 two-point field goals and six 3-pointers per game.

“In the two blemishes on our schedule, we did not shoot the ball that well and struggled to defend the way that we know how,” Wisniewski said.

By seasons’ end the Panthers had three players who averaged double-digit scoring, with sophomore Nathan Preator leading the way with 11.5 points a game, just ahead of juniors Dawson Griffin with 10.9 and Evan Whitlock with 10.6.

“There were many times during the season that our leading scorer came from one of those juniors and sophomores, which I felt made us a more complete team,” Wisniewski said.

Throughout the season, he felt the team continued to improve, growing in their overall understanding of the game, their defensive intensity and their individual skillset.

“As a JV coach, I am always trying to develop our players to be able to be contributors at the JV and varsity levels,” Wisniewski said. “I think that based on our records as a program, we are showing improvement.”

Throughout the season the JV Panthers continued to practice day in and day out against the eventual state champion varsity team, helping both the varsity and junior varsity teams get better.

“I really think that is the reason for our success overall,” he said. “We competed against the top team in the state every day. When you do that, you’re bound to be better. Both teams made each other better.”

Wisniewski said the team brought back a wealth of experience this year, and the players used their strong ability to score, speed, aggressive defense and unselfishness to help the Panthers succeed.

Despite those strengths, he felt the younger Panthers struggled with inconsistency on the defensive side, a need to commit for rebounding consistently and then leaving their feet to block shots, allowing their opponents to get easy buckets.

With the varsity team losing six players to graduation, Wisniewski sees most of the players moving up to the varsity level next year, with a strong foundation in hand.

The coach, who enjoyed every practice, said he’ll miss the friendship between the players along with the jokes and constant singing during practice.