Playing in front of the home crowd spurred the Powell High School girls’ basketball team to a convincing victory to start the new year, as the Panthers rolled past visiting 2A Rocky Mountain on Thursday night 77-39.

POWELL 77, ROCKY MOUNTAIN 39

After a short stretch where there was a lid on the basket for the Panthers (4-3), they opened the scoring and went on a 12-0 run against the Lady Grizz (3-7).

“I’d say that’s the best opening game coming out of break that we’ve had. Usually we come out kind of sluggish and playing at a slower pace,” coach Chelsea Kistler said. “I thought we came out with high intensity and quick pace, and aside from the first minute or two I thought that we dictated the entire game, controlled the tempo and executed what we needed to execute.”

Shelby Zickefoose led the early scoring for Powell, as the Panthers led 21-10 heading into the second quarter.

Both teams struggled  in the second to find the basket early, but eventually the pressure of the Panthers paid off and they opened up a 32-18 lead with 2:34 remaining and forced a Rocky timeout.

Powell continued pressing, and held a 37-20 advantage at the half behind 14 points by Emery Hernandez and 10 by Kindyle Floy.

“Emery Hernandez did her thing, she’s been consistent every game,” Kistler said. “I thought Kindyle had a breakout game and finally put her nerves on the back burner and went out and played the ball that we know she can play and played with confidence. It was really good to see her on both sides of the ball playing with the confidence that she had, and she’s going to continue to build that confidence the more experience that she gets.”

A Hernandez layup pushed the lead over 20 at 41-20 just a minute into the third, as Powell maintained that advantage throughout the third.

Hali Hancock’s layup just before the buzzer pushed it closer to 30 at 57-29 going into the fourth quarter, and Zickefoose’s layup to start the final frame made it 59-29.

“Hali was under the weather but she came in and did a great job,” Kistler said. “Hali and Shelby both are doing a great job of rebounding and making the right move offensively and finishing those short shots. It’s really nice seeing both of them really start to flourish.”

The Panther starters were pulled with five minutes remaining, as every player who played scored in the 77-39 victory.

Hernandez led with 22 and Floy added 16 as the other Panther in double-figures.

Coy Erickson led with six rebounds and seven steals, Hernandez and Floy had four assists each to lead while Zickefoose led with two blocks.

“Defense creates our offense often, and creates our energy and mojo,” Kistler said. “So that’s our starting point, that always has to be there. But a focal point for us here in the last couple of weeks has been, yeah we may get there in our layups and get steals and things like that, but then we’ve got to bring it back in the half court and you also have to score in that way … I thought we did that better. We had plenty of transition points but I thought we did a better job of executing.”

BIG HORN BASIN CLASSIC

The Panthers stay at home this weekend, welcoming in a number of teams for the Big Horn Basin Classic on Friday and Saturday.

In a slightly different format this year, the Panthers will play four games over two days, with the winner being determined by overall records and tiebreakers as opposed to a championship game on Saturday.

Powell takes on four lower class opponents, starting with 2A Greybull (4-6) at 1:30 p.m. on Friday followed by 1A Burlington (10-0 overall, 2-0 1A Northwest) at 6 p.m.

The Panthers then take on 2A Wind River (0-8) at 11 a.m. on Saturday and 2A Thermopolis (3-6) at 3:30 p.m. to end the weekend.

“It’s four more opportunities to get better,” Kistler said. “We’re not overlooking anybody, I don’t care what classification they are. Anybody can win any given night. We’re just continuing to get better on offense and defense, both sides of the ball, cleaning up some things on our press and on our offense.”

POWELL 77, ROCKY MOUNTAIN 39

Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()

Points — Emery Hernandez 22, Kindyle Floy 16, Hali Hancock 8, Shelby Zickefoose 8, Veronica Kovach 7, Coy Erickson 4, Leah Graham 4, Sam Edgell 4, Autumn Kidd 2

Rebounds — Coy Erickson 6 (3), Hali Hancock 5 (4), Shelby Zickefoose 5 (3), Leah Graham 5 (4), Emery Hernandez 3 (2), Kindyle Floy 3 (1), Sam Edgell 3 (2), Veronica Kovach 2, Autumn Kidd 1

Assists — Emery Hernandez 4, Kindyle Floy 4, Coy Erickson 3, Veronica Kovach 2, Hali Hancock 1, Shelby Zickefoose 1, Leah Graham 1

Steals — Coy Erickson 7, Emery Hernandez 6, Leah Graham 2, Kindyle Floy 2, Hali Hancock 1, Shelby Zickefoose 1, Veronica Kovach 1, Autumn Kidd 1

Blocks — Shelby Zickefoose 2, Sam Edgell 1