The Powell High School girls’ basketball team went 2-0 in a pair of weekend road games, beating cross-county rival Cody Fillies 39-27 on Friday and defeating Worland 43-38 on Saturday. The win over Cody made the Lady Panthers 3-0 in Class 3A West’s North Quadrant; Powell now has an overall record of 10-3.

“Really good weekend for us,” said PHS head coach Scott McKenzie. “Two great hostile environments to play in, and the girls did a nice job of winning both games.”

The Cody game could be an important one for the Lady Panthers in terms of conference seeding for the 3A West Regional Tournament in March. In the quadrant, Powell leads with a 3-0 conference record, Lander is second (1-1), Cody is third (1-2) and Riverton is fourth (0-2).

Coach McKenzie said that “to turn around after a hard-fought game in Cody and play Worland on the road in their house and come away with a win was just really good growth for our girls — to be able to do that back-to-back nights.”

Lady Panthers 39, Fillies 27

The last time the Lady Panthers and Fillies met was in a loser-out game at last year’s 3A West Regional tournament. Cody ended Powell’s season with a 38-22 win.

On Friday, however, the Lady Panthers reversed the tide, coming away with a 39-27 victory.

The senior-laden Fillies drew first blood, scoring the first basket. After the first period, Powell led 10-6.

In the second quarter, the Lady Panthers increased the lead to 19-11 with all nine points for Powell coming from 3-point baskets. Two of those 3-point baskets were made by the team’s lone senior, Maddy Hanks.

In the second half, “Rachel [Bonander] did a good job of working hard,” scoring 13 of her team-leading 17 points, said coach McKenzie.

Hanks and Aubrie Stenerson added eight points apiece. All of Stenerson’s points came from the free throw line, where she went a perfect 8-for-8.

“[Stenerson] continued to dominate at the free throw line,” coach McKenzie said.

Katie McKenzie and Ashtyn Heny also made 3-point buckets.

As a team, the Lady Panthers shot 72 percent from the charity stripe, 22 percent from the 3-point line and 47 percent on two-point field goals.

On the boards, Bonander had eight rebounds — two on offense and six on defense. Katie McKenzie had six defensive boards and Hanks had five rebounds — two on defense and three on offense.

Karlie McKenzie had three assists.

Powell had only two steals, below its average of 10.5 steals per game.

“Cody took pretty good care of the ball,” coach McKenzie said.

The Lady Panthers finished with just nine turnovers.

“Big win to beat Cody at their house and go 3-0 in the conference right now,” coach McKenzie said of the win.

Lady Panthers 43, Lady Warriors 38

On Saturday, the Lady Panthers traveled to take on the Lady Warriors. Free throws were the deciding factor in a back-and-forth contest.

At the end of the first quarter, Powell led 11-8; at halftime, the game was tied at 21. Going into the final quarter of play, the Lady Panthers led 32-27 and then went on to win 43-38.

Throughout the four quarters, both teams made four 3-point baskets and nine two-point field goals.

The difference in the score came by way of made free throws as Worland made 8-of-13 attempts and Powell made 13 out of 20 for the five-point difference in the score.

Of Jasmyne Lensegrav, Heny, Brea Terry and Devon Curtis, coach McKenzie said that it was “the best they’ve played as a group off the bench for us.”

In the first quarter, Lensegrav made a free throw with 1:30 remaining to give the Lady Panthers an 8-6 lead, Curtis made a basket and a free throw in the second quarter and Terry hit two crucial free throws in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Karlie McKenzie made three free throws.

“Worland played really well,” coach McKenzie said. “They shot the ball really well in the first half.”

All four of the Lady Warriors 3-pointers were made in the first half.

Stenerson led the team from behind the arc with two 3-pointers, followed by Katie McKenzie and Karlie McKenzie with one apiece.

Stenerson led the team with eight points and six assists.

Hanks scored nine points, all in the first half, to barely miss a double-double, as she had 10 rebounds (four offensive and six defensive). Bonander had nine boards, two on offense and seven on defense.

As a team, the Lady Panthers shot 65 percent from the charity stripe, 24 percent at the arc and 53 percent inside the arc. The team had eight steals and 13 turnovers.

“Really happy with that win,” said coach McKenzie, adding he believes Worland improved since Powell last played them at the Big Horn Basin Classic.

“[I] think they will make some noise on the east side [of the conference],” he said.

Next up for the Lady Panthers is a long road trip to play Pinedale on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Star Valley on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

“Star Valley is solid; I think we’re going to definitely have our hands full there,” coach McKenzie said. “They’re playing well right now.”

The Lady Braves have a 2-1 conference record and a 6-6 overall record.

“These games are important,” said coach McKenzie. He noted that, should there be a tie in the north quadrant, the games against the south quadrant teams can be used as a tie-breaker.

This will be the Lady Panthers’ first overnight road trip since before Christmas.

“It’ll be a good test for us as we prepare for Regionals to do this,” the coach said.