On January 16-17, Powell High School basketball players took to the court in the annual Bighorn Classic. The boys’ team traveled to Thermopolis and Worland, while the girls stayed to battle at home.
There were some changes to this year’s bracket setup; instead of playing a championship game, the winner was determined by the team with the most wins over the two days. If there was still a tie, it then came down to which team gave up the fewest points. The boys, on the other hand, played a round-robin style tournament.
The girls’ team came out on top, while the boys’ tournament had no placing. The Lady Panthers played Greybull, Burlington, Thermopolis, and Wind River, ending undefeated, along with Lovell and Cody.
“I think we performed well,” senior Coy Erickson said. “We distributed the ball throughout everybody on our team, and altogether in every game we had great defense.”
Erickson performed exceptionally well for the Lady Panthers, leading the team in steals at the end of the weekend.
The boys played 4 games over the weekend, beating most of their opponents, but they came up short against Thermopolis.
“It was definitely our strongest weekend,” junior Brady Harvey said. “We played two weaker opponents on the first day, and although we ended up winning both, we turned the ball over too much, and our defense wasn’t great. The second day, we played much better, narrowly losing to Thermopolis and beating Rocky.”
Despite the negatives, there were many positives for this young team. They battled well, beating the other 3 teams handily.
When asked about the new bracket setup, the Panthers had mixed opinions.
“I think there are positives and negatives to the new bracket setup,” sophomore Kindyle Floy said. “I think it would’ve been better to have a championship game and have something to compete towards.”
While they tied with Cody and Lovell for the most games won, they were the team that gave up the fewest points in their 4 games.
“I don’t like it at all,” sophomore Karcher Foley said. “I feel like we should be playing for something.”
Overall, it was a very successful weekend for the dedicated athletes and basketball teams, and lends insight into how the season will unfold.
