The Powell High School girls’ basketball team passed two tests this past week, holding on to defeat Lovell on the road 47-46 on Thursday before pulling away early in the second half to beat Buffalo 67-42 at home on Friday.

POWELL 47, LOVELL 46

Continuing with their third conference game on the road in a row the Panthers (11-4 overall, 2-1 3A West) took on the Bulldogs (11-4 overall, 1-2 3A West).

Powell started strong, led by five early points from Coy Erickson as the Panthers led 8-2 midway through the first quarter and forced a Lovell timeout.

That strong start continued as the Panthers led 13-6 after the first with eight points from Emery Hernandez and five from Erickson.

Powell couldn’t secure rebounds and fouls started to pile up, but the Panthers maintained their lead 17-11 midway through the second quarter.

“That’s the first time that we’ve had that kind of foul trouble this year, it was just multiple and it was every one of our bigs. We were already trying to adjust to not having Veronica [Kovach],” coach Chelsea Kistler said. “I was proud of everybody holding tough and sticking together, because it was all game long we had to deal with foul trouble.”

Heading into the locker room the Panthers held on to a 24-18 advantage.

Lovell stormed out in the second half with seven straight points to take the lead, but Powell rebounded and held a 29-27 lead midway through the third quarter.

Powell pushed ahead, leading 36-31 heading into the fourth behind 20 points by Hernandez.

The Bulldogs again started strong in the fourth, cutting the lead down to 38-37 on a 3-pointer and calling a timeout with just under six minutes remaining.

Back and forth the two teams went, as the Panthers maintained the lead, until a 3-pointer with just under three minutes remaining made it 44 apiece.

Erickson’s step back 3-pointer gave Powell the lead with just under two minutes left.

Lovell responded with a jumper, and the Panthers went 0-2 at the line to give the Bulldogs a chance.

After stalling to lower the clock, the Bulldogs took a timeout with 12 seconds left.

Erickson stole a pass inside, and amidst a scramble on the ground was called for a travel to give Lovell the ball with 1.5 seconds left.

Powell forced a turnover, and after initial celebrations .3 seconds remained on the clock and the Panthers threw it deep to seal the 47-46 win.

“I’m 100% proud of them. Lovell is a really tough place to play. All road games are tough, but Lovell just seems like it’s one of the tougher venues to play at,” Kistler said. “That atmosphere was difficult and it was packed and it was loud … It’s big to be able to get those (road) wins like that early on in conference play.”

Hernandez led with 22 points, followed by Erickson who had 13 and added seven rebounds.

Hernandez led with five assists and four steals, Hali Hancock had the lone block for the Panthers.

POWELL 67, BUFFALO 42

On Friday the Panthers had their final nonconference matchup of the regular season, taking on the Bison (7-6 overall, 4-0 3A East).

Powell started out up 6-0 behind four from Shelby Zickefoose, but the Bison responded and tied it 6-6 midway through the first quarter.

The Panthers regained the lead, as they led 17-12 after the first quarter.

Powell kept extending its lead up 25-19 midway through the second quarter, but a late Buffalo buzzer beater in the second sent Powell into the locker room up 32-29.

The Panthers didn’t let the buzzer beater give the Bison momentum, as Powell opened with a 9-2 run behind Kindyle Floy to make it 41-31 with five minutes left in the third.

“We just made a couple of defensive adjustments and ran a little different stuff in the second half offensively,” Kistler said. “Just super proud of the girls with how they responded after what could have been a big swing of momentum when they hit that three at the buzzer … We talked at halftime about getting that lead and then just building it a little bit more at a time. The girls did that and executed very well.”

Erickson’s 3-pointer eventually made it 48-31 and forced a timeout by Buffalo, as Powell led 52-37 after three quarters.

Floy’s layup with just over six minutes left made it 58-37 in the fourth, as Powell pulled away and took the 67-42 win over the Bison.

“I thought the game went well overall, but that third quarter, I told the girls if we could bottle that up and play that for four quarters, we’ll be a really tough team to beat,” Kistler said.

Hernandez led with 20, Floy had 13 and Leah Graham had 11 as the Panthers had six players with seven or more points in the contest. Powell shot 27-46 (58.6%) from the field in the game.

Erickson, Zickefoose and Graham had five rebounds each, Hernandez led with six assists as the Panthers assisted on 20 of 27 made baskets in the game.

“Great execution, great reads. All in all, just a well-rounded game for all of our girls and a big win,” Kistler said.

Erickson and Floy led with two steals each, while Hernandez and Hancock each had two blocks.

BRIDGER VALLEY OPPOSITION

Powell now stays at home this week, welcoming in a pair of 3A Southwest opponents from Bridger Valley.

The Panthers start with Mountain View (3-10 overall, 0-3 3A West) at 5:30 p.m. on Friday before taking on Lyman (9-3 overall, 1-2 3A West) at noon Saturday.

This will be the second year in a row that these contests count towards the overall standings in the 3A West, affecting regional tournament seeding in early March.

“We need to just take the momentum that we gained this weekend and transfer it into this coming weekend, because they are big games for us to continue to be successful,” Kistler said. 

POWELL 47, LOVELL 46

Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()

Points — Emery Hernandez 22, Coy Erickson 13, Kindyle Floy 6, Leah Graham 4, Shelby Zickefoose 2

Rebounds — Coy Erickson 7 (1), Emery Hernandez 3, Shelby Zickefoose 3, Leah Graham 2, Hali Hancock 1, Kindyle Floy 1, Autumn Kidd 1

Assists — Emery Hernandez 5, Kindyle Floy 2, Coy Erickson 1, Shelby Zickefoose 1, Leah Graham 1

Steals — Emery Hernandez 4, Shelby Zickefoose 2, Hali Hancock 1, Coy Erickson 1, Leah Graham 1, Kindyle Floy 1

Blocks — Hali Hancock 1

POWELL 67, BUFFALO 42

Points — Emery Hernandez 20, Kindyle Floy 13, Leah Graham 11, Hali Hancock 8, Shelby Zickefoose 8, Coy Erickson 7

Rebounds — Coy Erickson 5 (1), Shelby Zickefoose 5 (1), Leah Graham 5 (1), Emery Hernandez 4 (2), Hali Hancock 4 (2), Sam Edgell 1

Assists — Emery Hernandez 6, Coy Erickson 5, Kindyle Floy 4, Leah Graham 3, Shelby Zickefoose 2

Steals — Coy Erickson 2, Kindyle Floy 2, Shelby Zickefoose 1, Sam Edgell 1

Blocks — Emery Hernandez 2, Hali Hancock 2, Coy Erickson 1, Sam Edgell 1