The Lady Panther's Class 3A foes in Worland gave them little trouble on Friday, but regional rival Lovell got the better of the Powell High School girls' basketball team on Saturday.“Lovell made the shots they needed to and we didn't,” said PHS head coach Luke Danforth.Riding some hot shooting from behind the 3-point line, the Class 2A Lady Bulldogs (14-4) took a 51-41 decision at the Panther Gym.

Lovell made five 3-pointers in nine attempts while Powell (11-3 overall, 5-2 in Class 3A West) came up empty on eight attempts.

“That's probably the difference in the game,” said Coach Danforth.

The teams played to a 12-12 tie in the first quarter.

On a short Hannah Pollart jumper just a few seconds into the second quarter, PHS grabbed a 14-12 lead.

On Lovell's next possession, Alyssa Geiser hit one of her four 3-pointers in the contest to put LHS on top.

Powell regained a 16-15 advantage on a Leslie Thronburg basket, but Lovell's Karen Koritnik responded with another three for a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

By the end of the half, Lovell had a 29-22 lead.

In the third quarter, the Lady Panthers cut the deficit to four, 29-25, but Lovell did not let them get any closer.

The Lady Bulldogs closed the third up by 10 points, 43-33.

Powell wouldn't go down quietly, however. They began the fourth quarter with a bang when senior Katie Kipp came up with a steal, raced it up-court, sunk the lay-up and drew a foul. She made the free throw to make it 43-36. A trio of Kami Cooley free throws in a couple trips to the line again brought PHS within four — 43-39 — with about five minutes remaining in the game.

However, from there on out, Powell managed only a pair of free throws on offense.

“I think turnovers down the stretch kept us from getting points,” said Coach Danforth.

Lovell controlled the ball and made their free throws to hold off PHS.

Pollart led the Lady Panthers with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Savannah Donarski scored 9, Thronburg 6, and Cooley and Kipp scored 3 each.

“I was proud of the way the girls played,” said Coach Danforth. “They played hard.”

The Lady Panthers had better results the night before — beating Worland on the road, 41-27.

At the end of the first quarter, Powell held a four-point lead. They “took charge of the game” in the second quarter, said Danforth, scoring 11 points while holding Worland (5-9 overall, 3-4 in Class 3A West) to just 2. That made for a 23-10 lead at the half.

Worland made a brief run in the third, but Powell fended off the Lady Warriors for a 14-point win.

All nine varsity girls made contributions, said Danforth, with seven players scoring.

Donarski led the Lady Panthers with 14 points and 12 rebounds, followed in double-digits by Pollart with 13 points and 9 rebounds.

Thronburg added 7 points and 9 rebounds.

Also adding points were Cooley, Rogers, and Shellie Williams (2 each), and Kipp (1).

PHS will next hit the road for matches with Jackson (8-7, 4-3) at 5:45 p.m. on Friday and Pinedale (4-9, 1-6) at 12:45 p.m. on Saturday.

With five teams — Cody, Powell, Mountain View, Lander and Jackson — within one game of Class 3A West's conference lead, “Jackson's a big game,” said Coach Danforth.

“We're excited about the opportunity to get on the road and try to redeem ourselves,” he said.