After a slow first four minutes the Powell High School girls’ basketball team rolled to its sixth straight win, defeating Worland 63-23 in front of the home crowd on Friday night.

POWELL 63, WORLAND 23

Looking to continue cruising through February the Panthers (14-4 overall, 5-1 3A West) welcomed in the Warriors (6-13 overall, 0-7 3A West).

The visitors started off strong, building a quick 5-0 lead and holding the Panthers scoreless for nearly four minutes.

Out of a timeout with 4:23 left in the quarter Coy Erickson got the Panthers on the board. They quickly took the lead through a Kindyle Floy 3-pointer a minute later.

“Our shots weren’t falling in the first four minutes of the game, and we were getting open looks and the right shots that we wanted, but they weren’t falling,” coach Chelsea Kistler said. “We knew that eventually they had to fall, and they did after that four minute stint and then we never really looked back.”

Powell carried that momentum to a 17-10 lead after the first quarter behind Floy’s eight points.

The Panthers quickly made it a double-digit affair, as Hali Hancock’s layup made it 21-10 just 45 seconds into the second quarter.

Powell kept Worland scoreless in the quarter, up 27-10  midway through, before Worland finally got on the board with 3:29 left.

Emery Hernandez’s layup with two minutes left made it 32-12, as Powell maintained a 35-14 advantage at the break.

The Panthers again quickly poured on the scoring in the third, nearly making it a 30-point game inside the first two minutes, before eventually leading 47-16 on a Hernandez steal and layup midway through.

“That was probably one of our better passing games. We were seeing a lot of open opportunities,” Kistler said.

Powell continued stretching its lead, as the Panthers were up 54-21 heading into the fourth.

Sam Edgell helped Powell hit the running clock with 3:04 left at 61-21, before the Panthers finished with the 63-23 win.

Floy led Powell with 17 points, Hernandez had 14 and Leah Graham added 12 while leading with eight rebounds.

“She’s [Floy] playing with a lot of confidence. Each game we have somebody that steps up and starts knocking down shots early for us,” Kistler said. “When one of our kids gets going, it just seems to open the floodgates for the rest of the girls to see the ball going in and get themselves going as well, it just brings energy to the team.”

Hernandez, Erickson, Shelby Zickefoose, Graham and Floy each had three assists, Hernandez led with six steals and Zickefoose led with three blocks.

IMPORTANT ROAD TRIP

The Panthers now head on the road for the final time of the regular season, taking on two difficult opponents in key regional seeding duals.

Powell starts with a trip to Lander (17-2 overall, 7-0 3A West) at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, a team the Panthers fell to 59-43 the opening weekend of the season in December.

The road trip then continues to Pinedale (15-3 overall, 5-2 3A West) at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, another team that defeated the Panthers 53-46 in December in Lander.

“Obviously you want to get both. But at the bare minimum, you would like to see yourself get a split because playing on the road is hard, especially these long road games that are overnight,” Kistler said. “I’d just like to see our girls continue to play strong basketball and good team basketball. We’ve been playing really well … We’ve grown so much [since we played them last], and I’m excited to see where that takes us going into this weekend.”

POWELL 63, WORLAND 23

Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()

Points — Kindyle Floy 17, Emery Hernandez 14, Leah Graham 12, Coy Erickson 9, Shelby Zickefoose 5, Hali Hancock 4, Sam Edgell 2

Rebounds — Leah Graham 8 (3), Hali Hancock 4 (1), Coy Erickson 4 (2), Emery Hernandez 3 (1), Kindyle Floy 3 (1), Sam Edgell 3 (1), Shelby Zickefoose 2

Assists — Emery Hernandez 3, Coy Erickson 3, Shelby Zickefoose 3, Leah Graham 3, Kindyle Floy 3, Hali Hancock 1

Steals — Emery Hernandez 6, Kindyle Floy 3, Coy Erickson 2, Shelby Zickefoose 1, Leah Graham 1, Sam Edgell 1

Blocks — Shelby Zickefoose 3, Hali Hancock 1