School rivalries are a classic tradition that are carried on through the centuries like a grudge you just can’t let go. Rivalries usually consist of smack talking, any competition they can think of to prove whose school is better and student sections exchanging cheers and nasty looks across the gym at basketball games.

Senior student section leader Bronson Smith believes an impactful student section is an important part of rivalry basketball games.

“I think a good student section is important because it lets our players know that we support them, and it gets in the other teams’ heads,” said Smith.

The student section was a very influential factor in the rivalry game between the Powell Panthers and the Cody Broncs and Fillies on Friday, Jan. 26.

The Powell Lady Panthers took on rival the Cody Fillies on Friday hoping to improve their conference record to 3-0, and the determination was evident in their play.  The Fillies went into the game with a conference record of 1-1 and were desperate for a win to put them one step closer to the top.

The Lady Panthers spent most of the week preparing for the match-up against the Fillies and when game day came the team couldn’t wait to get on the court.

Although the Fillies came out swinging, the Lady Panthers outscored them and shut down their two best offensive players Erika Larsen and Ashlyn Bower, taking away most scoring within the paint. The Lady Panthers nailed several outside shots and brought down some offensive rebounds for crucial points in the first half, with most of the individual players getting on the board in some way.

Junior post Rachel Bonander had a team leading 17 points, senior Maddy hanks had 8 points, nailing two three-pointers. Junior guard Aubrie Stenerson also contributed 8 points, going a perfect 8 for 8 at the free throw line.

“I think we did a really good job preparing for Cody in practice,” Bonander said. “And in the end I think we all worked together well during the game to get the job done.”

The Lady Panthers pulled out a win of 39-27, not letting the Fillies get within two points the whole game. The Lady Panthers played a solid defense, while working with a new component of fronting the Fillies posts to take away inside shots.

The Lady Panthers now hold a record of 3-0 in conference play and 10-3 overall, they will travel to Pinedale and Star Valley this coming weekend to take on the Lady Wranglers and the Lady Braves to get a good look at the competition they will be facing from the other side of the state at regionals next month.

The Panther basketball team took on Cody Friday as well, coming up short with a loss of 70-45.

The Panthers played tough and gave all they had to the game, but fell short after digging a hole in the first half.

Junior Kaelan Groves believes that even though the score does not reflect it, the team played many aspects of the game better than usual.

“I think we handled their press better than we have before,” Groves said. “But I also think we need to limit our turnovers and be more patient on offense the get some higher percentage shots.”

One detriment to the Panthers’ match-up against the Broncs was the fact that they were missing starter Aaron Jacobsen due to a concussion earlier in the week.

The Panthers had a few time periods where the odds were looking up and the score drew closer to a tie, but they were never able to pull the score up enough to gain any solid ground.

Groves believes that the team can put this game in the past and move forward with the season while improving on the things that need work.

“I’m excited about pulling things together and hitting our stride so that we can surprise some people at state,” Groves said.