The Lady Panther basketball team leapt into first place in the Class 3A West North Quadrant with a 51-36 win over Cody on Friday.

On Saturday, Powell lost 44-38 to the defending state champion Worland team.

“Good weekend,” Powell High School head coach Scott McKenzie said of the home games. “Even though we lost one, we played good.”

Powell 51, Cody 36

Things started with what McKenzie called a “good win” over Cody (7-7 overall, 2-1 in the quadrant).

Powell (8-4, 3-0) led at the end of each quarter. In the second quarter, Powell outscored Cody 10-2 to go up 28-13 going into halftime.

“(I) was really proud of the start we got on Cody,” said coach McKenzie.

Rachel Bonander scored nine of her 17 points in the first quarter; Jennifer Bonander finished the game with 15 points.

“Thought our guards did a great job of getting the ball to (Rachel) and Jen all night,” coach McKenzie said.

Tayli Stenerson and Katie McKenzie led in assists with four and Maddy Hanks was right behind with three. With two assists apiece was Karlie McKenzie and Dani Asay.

For shooting percentages, Powell shot 33.3 percent on 3-point shots, 51.3 percent on 2-point shots and made 2-of-4 tries at the free throw line.

“Thought it was really different for a Powell/Cody game that we shot four free throws and they only shot six,” said coach McKenzie. “Usually those are much more physical games.”

Powell had 17 turnovers in the game.

Rachel Bonander went 8-for-10 from the field and had seven rebounds — four on offense and three on defense.

Hanks followed with six boards, leading the team with five defensive rebounds.

Asay, Hanks, Stenerson and Katie McKenzie each had two steals and Karlie McKenzie had one to make up the team’s nine total steals.

Worland 44, Powell 38

Powell turned around to play non-conference opponent Worland (8-3 overall) on Saturday.

“I thought we handled their pressure well for three of the four quarters,” coach McKenzie said of Worland’s defense.

At the end of the first quarter, Powell led 9-5, but Worland led 25-20 at halftime. The Lady Panthers cut the five point lead down to two in the third quarter, heading into the final period down 33-31.

Worland ultimately pulled out the 44-38 victory.

Coach McKenzie said that Worland is a team with some size and experience from winning the state championship against Star Valley last year.

“I thought we played with them all the way,” he said. “Just kind of fell apart with turnovers and missed some front-ends of free throws.”

Powell made only 5-of-13 tries from the free throw line (38.5 percent) while Worland shot 18-for-29, or 62 percent.

“This was a game where the free throws was probably the difference,” said coach McKenzie.

There were no double digit scorers in the game; Hanks, Stenerson and Asay led with eight points each.

The Lady Panthers shot 33.3 percent from the field.

Senior Rachelle Cole made the first 3-point basket of her varsity career.

Hanks also had a first on the season, collecting six steals in a single game. The junior now leads the Lady Panthers with 22 steals this year. Against Worland, Powell had a total of 10 steals.

On the boards, Jennifer Bonander led with eight rebounds, seven being defensive.

“I thought all weekend our girls really stepped up,” said coach McKenzie, referring to not only the team’s effort but also the fact that they were down a player.

This weekend, the Lady Panthers will play against Pinedale and Star Valley. Neither of these teams are in the same quadrant as Powell, but the outcome of the games can be used as a tie-breaker for standings going into the regional tournament.

Pinedale has a 3A West South Quadrant record of 0-3 and Star Valley is 1-2.

Both games will be played at home, with a 5:30 p.m. tip-off time against Pinedale on Friday. The game against Star Valley will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Coach McKenzie said his squad is aiming to “just continue to get better now as we hit February.”

Tribune photo by Don Cogger