PHS basketball teams traveled to Lovell on February 26-28 to compete in the 2026 regionals tournament. Both the girls’ and the boys’ basketball teams fought hard to implement their hard work and dedication this season. 

Both teams, unfortunately, fell short of their goal of making it to the state tournament in Casper this year. However, they battled hard every game. 

On Thursday, March 5, the boys’ team fell short to Cody 58-46 after leading most of the game. 

“Number one, we wanted to get by Cody, because that would have made our path a lot easier,” Head Coach Mike Heny said. “But having Nathan on the bench for most of that game led to some struggles. He played less than half the minutes he normally plays.”

Senior Nathan Preator reached some foul trouble early in the game against Cody, allowing them to take an unforeseen lead against the Panthers. 

The girls, on the other hand, won their game against Lovell 45-35 and advanced to play Cody on Friday. 

“Just rebounding, boxing out, and finishing at the rim were our main focus,” senior Coy Erickson said. “Going into regionals, we just knew it’d be a dog fight since our side of the bracket was so competitive.”                         

The team executed their goals well throughout the game against Lovell, securing that win. 

On Friday, the boys’ team achieved a well-deserved win against Mountain View 79-45. 

“Our strategy was to win two before we lost two,” senior Taeson Shultz said. “We needed to just play to the potential we knew we could.”  

High stakes were on the line in the Mountain View game, but the Panthers executed well and played as a unit.

The Girls played Cody late Friday afternoon, but couldn’t pull through with a win against the undefeated fillies. The final score was 49-28. 

“Cody is a good team,” sophomore Kindyle Floy said. “They play aggressive and fast basketball, but we played well as a team and never stopped pushing.”

On Saturday, both teams had hard-fought games. The boys lost their game against the Lander Tigers 64-56. 

“I feel like we played pretty good,” Preator said. “After half-time, we kind of came out a lot more aggressive, and we just didn’t really match their energy.”

The girls lost a very close game to Pinedale after going into double overtime 49-45.

“We just let them come back into the game,” junior Emery Hernandez said. “We weren’t executing or boxing out when it came down to the last few games.”

Though it wasn’t the outcome the Panthers were looking for, it was a very fun and successful year for both PHS basketball teams.