A dominant home performance and a come-from-behind road win capped off a perfect 3A Northwest conference season for the Powell Panther girls’ basketball team, defeating Lovell 41-20 at home Thursday before overcoming a difficult road game in Thermopolis 44-28 on Saturday.

POWELL 41, LOVELL 20

On senior night Thursday, the Panthers (14-6 overall, 6-0 3A Northwest) came out strong, looking to send out their four seniors with a final home win against the Bulldogs (12-11 overall, 3-3 3A Northwest).

A strong first quarter from the Panthers helped Powell establish a lead that nearly reached double-digits, but held at 11-4 heading into the second.

Catelynn Floy pushed the lead out to double-digits after a putback made it 17-6 three minutes into the second, helping Powell start to pull away early.

The lead reached as many as 17, and a strong defensive effort made it a 24-7 advantage for the Panthers at the break.

Powell continued to force turnovers from Lovell, pushing the initiative and eventually pushing the lead to 20, up 35-15 after a Coy Erickson steal led to an Addy Thorington layup.

“Our defense was pretty good that night. We used a little bit different man defense against them to try it,” coach Chelsea Kistler said.

The night finished strong as the Panthers ended with a 41-20 victory.

“It was a really good game in terms of getting the seniors a lot of playing time that night,” Kistler said. 

Saige Kidd led the way with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Alexa Richardson and Lauryn Bennett led with three steals.

POWELL 44, THERMOPOLIS 28

After the win Thursday, Powell made the trip to take on the Bobcats (5-15 overall, 2-4 3A Northwest) on Saturday.

The Panthers already had the No. 1 seed locked up for the regional tournament, but the Bobcats had it all to play for with a chance at the No. 2 seed and an upset of the Panthers on senior day.

Powell led 5-4 midway through the first, but that was the only lead the Panthers had in the first half.

The Bobcats led the rest of the half, leading 20-15 at the break after the Panthers shot 3-12 at the free throw line.

“As much as you try to get your kids to not overlook it’s hard after you’ve beaten a team two times and it’s hard to beat a team three times,” Kistler said. “They (Thermopolis) had a lot riding on that game. They came out ready to go and we weren’t attacking seams correctly in the zone.”

Attacking the Thermopolis zone was a key to start the second half, and the Panthers did just that early and often.

Thermopolis led 26-21 before an offensive outburst helped Powell take the lead.

A 3-pointer from Ivy Agee and a jumper by Thorington finally gave the Panthers the lead at 29-27 with 1:21 left.

Agee hit her third 3-pointer of the game before the end of the third and Powell took a 32-27 advantage into the fourth quarter, with Kistler attributing the offensive spark to Agee and Emery Hernandez.

“Our sparks came from Ivy and Emery coming off the bench for us,” Kistler said. “It’s wild to think that Emery was the only kid that didn’t score but she was such a spark for us. Ivy and her work well together and that kick-started everybody.”

Thermopolis scored a free throw with 6:14 left, the only point for the hosts in the final frame.

Powell continued pressing, using its bench to its advantage to finish with the 44-28 win.

“We had 24 starter points and 20 bench points. Hats off to my bench kids coming in ready to go and stepping up when we needed them to bring us that energy and that spark,” Kistler said.

Thorington led with a 14 point, 12 rebound double-double.

Alexa Richardson led with five assists.

REGIONAL REMATCH

Heading into the postseason the Panthers will head back to Thermopolis this weekend, taking part in the 3A West Regional tournament.

Powell will take the No. 1 seed out of the Northwest to the tournament, starting out against the Southwest No. 4 seed Lander Tigers (11-10 overall, 1-5 3A Southwest) at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

Lander has defeated the Panthers twice this season, 45-42 in the opening game of the season and 54-47 at the start of February, with both contests happening in Lander.

“This will be the first time we get to play them on a neutral court,” Kistler said. “They are going to have confidence against us, but my girls are ready. They are excited for this matchup and they’re out for some redemption. We are going to have to do a better job of taking away the rhythm shot outside and not getting beat off the dribble. We are going to finish it with a rebound — we didn’t rebound very well the last time we played them.”

If Powell wins, the Panthers will advance to the semifinals on Friday, taking on the winner of Southwest No. 2 seed Mountain View (18-4 overall, 3-3 3A Southwest) and Northwest No. 3 seed Thermopolis at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

The losers of those two contests will drop to a loser-out contest at 10:30 a.m. on Friday.

POWELL 41, LOVELL 20

Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()

Points — Saige Kidd 10, Waycee Harvey 8, Catelynn Floy 8, Addy Thorington 7, Emery Hernandez 4, Coy Erickson 2, Alexa Richardson 1, Kenzie Fields 1

Rebounds — Saige Kidd 7 (2), Addy Thorington 5, Catelynn Floy 4 (3), Waycee Harvey 3 (2), Coy Erickson 3 (1), Kenzie Fields 3, Emery Hernandez 2 (1), Alexa Richardson 1 (1), Ivy Agee 1 (1), Lauryn Bennett 1 (1)

Assists — Alexa Richardson 2, Catelynn Floy 2, Waycee Harvey 1, Ivy Agee 1, Coy Erickson 1, Addy Thorington 1, Lauryn Bennett 1

Steals — Alexa Richardson 3, Lauryn Bennett 3, Waycee Harvey 2, Coy Erickson 2, Ivy Agee 1, Addy Thorington 1, Emery Hernandez 1, Catelynn Floy 1

Blocks — Addy Thorington 2, Coy Erickson 1, Saige Kidd 1, Catelynn Floy 1

POWELL 44, THERMOPOLIS 28

Points — Addy Thorington 14, Ivy Agee 9, Coy Erickson 7, Saige Kidd 4, Lauryn Bennett 3, Alexa Richardson 2, Waycee Harvey 2, Catelynn Floy 2, Kenzie Fields 1

Rebounds — Addy Thorington 12 (3), Waycee Harvey 4 (4), Ivy Agee 4 (2), Emery Hernandez 4 (2), Alexa Richardson 2 (1), Coy Erickson 2, Catelynn Floy 2 (1), Saige Kidd 1 (1)

Assists — Alexa Richardson 5, Waycee Harvey 2, Emery Hernandez 2, Ivy Agee 1, Coy Erickson 1

Steals — Addy Thorington 3, Waycee Harvey 2, Emery Hernandez 2, Alexa Richardson 1

3A WEST REGIONAL SCHEDULE

(All games at Hot Springs County High School)   

THURSDAY

Game 1 — 9 a.m. No. 1S Pinedale vs. No. 4N Worland

Game 2 — 10:30 a.m. No. 2N Lovell vs. No. 3S Lyman

Game 3 — 4 p.m. No. 1N Powell vs. No. 4S Lander

Game 4 — 5:30 p.m. No. 2S Mountain View vs. No. 3N Thermopolis

FRIDAY

Game 5 — 9 a.m. Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2

Game 6 — 10:30 a.m. Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4

Game 7 — 4 p.m. Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2

Game 8 — 5:30 p.m. Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4

SATURDAY

Game 10 — 9 a.m. Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 6

Game 9 — 10:30 a.m. Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 5

Game 12 — 4 p.m. Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 (Championship)

Game 11 — 7 p.m. Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10 (Third place)