The Powell High School girls’ basketball team finished with some impressive results playing at home in the Big Horn Basin Classic. As a dominant defensive weekend helped lead the Panthers to a third successive win in the tournament, going undefeated and retaining the trophy via tiebreaker by having the fewest points allowed.

The Panthers defeated Greybull 66-22 and Burlington 66-36 on Friday before defeating Wind River 67-8 and Thermopolis 62-25 on Saturday.

“We knew going into the tournament with the way it was set up that our defense needed to be on point,” coach Chelsea Kistler said. “I think the girls took some extra pride and I kind of challenged them in that capacity to really hold strong in their defense and that’s what they did … I thought this was honestly as a whole probably our best weekend of team play and sharing the ball and really not caring who got the offensive credit with points, but just reading who is open and getting them the ball.”

POWELL 66, GREYBULL 22

Starting the tournament on Friday the Panthers (8-3) got off to a slow start against the visiting Buffs (5-9).

Powell only led 4-0 midway through the first quarter, before the Panthers started getting steals and layups as Kindyle Floy pushed the lead late to 14-4, which held into the second quarter.

That double-digit lead eventually reached 20, as a pair of Veronica Kovach free throws made it 30-9 with just over a minute left in the half.

Powell ended with a 3-pointer, as Floy saved a ball going out-of-bounds and tipped it to Coy Erickson to make it a 33-11 game at the half.

Floy’s layup with 5:40 left in the third made it 43-13 and Emery Hernandez’s layup made it 55-15 with 2:40 left to start a running clock in the third.

The Panther starters were pulled late in the third and sat the fourth quarter as Powell rolled to a 66-22 win.

“They (JV players) were coming in and playing some positions they don’t typically play,” Kistler said. “It’s very easy for kids to be like ‘I’m going to get mine because it’s my opportunity now to get in the game.’ But that’s not the mindset at all. They just want to get in there and work hard for their teammates and play together and just feed the ball to who is open and who is hitting.”

Hernandez led with 24 points, Erickson had 14 as the other Panther in double figures.

Leah Graham led with eight rebounds, five offensive, Floy led with five assists and Hernandez added 10 steals to complete a double-double.

POWELL 66, BURLINGTON 36

Another slow start against the Huskies (11-3 overall, 2-0 1A Northwest) on Friday night as the Panthers trailed 7-3 midway through the first quarter.

Powell finished the final four minutes with a 10-0 run and led 13-7 heading into the second quarter.

“We had a couple slow starts because we weren’t finishing some of the easy bunnies,” Kistler said. “It’s not like we weren’t getting the opportunities, it’s not that we weren’t working hard defensively and earning those opportunities. The shots weren’t falling early, and once they started falling, then we never really looked back. It just started clicking.”

The lead quickly swelled to double digits, and eventually reached 20 on a Floy layup to make it 32-11 with just over three minutes left in the half.

The Panthers continued pushing and made their advantage nearly 30 as they led 43-15 heading into the locker room.

It reached 30 on a Hernandez layup, and eventually reached 40 with an Erickson free throw at 57-17 with three minutes left in the third to make it a running clock.

The Panthers cruised and finished with the 66-36 win.

Floy led with 24 points, sinking five threes to tie the school record, joining Erickson who has also tied the school record twice.

“She (Floy) did join that elite group of hitting five,” Kistler said.

Hernandez had 19 as the other Panther in double figures.

Erickson led with seven rebounds and five assists, while Hernandez led with five steals and Floy had three blocks as Powell recorded seven in the contest.

POWELL 67, WIND RIVER 8

Heading into Saturday the Panthers took on the winless Cougars (0-13) and immediately jumped out to a 26-2 advantage after the first quarter and never looked back.

The Panthers led 45-3 at the half and hit a running clock, cruising to a 67-8 victory in the second half.

Hernandez led with 19 points while Graham had 13 as the other Panther in double figures.

Hali Hancock had nine rebounds to lead, Floy had nine assists, Hernandez had seven steals while Hancock, Sam Edgell and Autumn Kidd each had a block.

“I thought our rebounding (all weekend) was really good from our posts all the way to our guards,” Kistler said. “It doesn’t always have to be offensive production … That’s what makes us special as a team, is I think everybody understands what they’re great at, and they’re great at it.”

POWELL 62, THERMOPOLIS 25

Heading into the final game of the weekend the Panthers welcomed in the Bobcats (3-10).

Powell trailed again midway through the first quarter 9-8, but eventually took the lead 11-9 and extended it all the way to 17-9 on an Erickson jumper at the buzzer.

The Panthers maintained that lead midway through the second quarter at 23-16, before ending on a 10-0 run over the final four minutes to lead 33-16 at the half.

From that point forward the Panthers controlled the tempo, and eventually pushed it to 20 on a Hernandez 3-pointer with just under three minutes left in the third.

The lead reached 30 just before the midway point of the fourth quarter, as the Panthers rolled again to a nearly 40-point win 62-25.

Erickson and Graham led with 16 points each as Floy added 13.

Erickson led with nine rebounds, while Hernandez led with six assists, five steals and had a block alongside Hancock and Shelby Zickefoose who each had a block.

“I think we’re gelling,” Kistler said. “We’re reading who has got the hot hand. It feels like we keep hitting that person … You want to be playing your best come March, but you want to set yourself up for success going into the postseason. So you’ve got to take care of business throughout the conference part of the season. You want to be gelling like we are now.”

CONFERENCE PLAY

The Panthers now put their seven game winning streak on the line this weekend, heading on the road to start 3A West action.

That schedule begins with a rivalry game on Thursday, heading to Cody to take on the Fillies (11-0 overall, 1-0 3A West) at 5:30 p.m.

“We have to be able to take care of the ball. We have to not allow them to speed us up and play faster than our comfort zone,” Kistler said. “We’re just trying to worry about ourselves and not let them dictate what we do, and be who we are and don’t let them change that.”

Powell then continues on the road Friday to take on Worland (6-5) at 5:30 p.m.

“They’ve got young talent mixed with some returning talent and I do think things are clicking for them right now,” Kistler said.