Girls Basketball:

The Lady Panther Girls basketball team emerged the tone for the rest of the season in Lovell over the weekend in a tournament, Dec. 7-8.

Being the first game of the season, the Lady Panthers took the “dub” against the Lady Outlaws 39-34. The Lady Panthers were shaky in the first half, not finishing their shots and being slow on defense. The second half, the Lady Panthers finished their shots by rebounding, and shutting down Rawlins strongest shooters.

That night the Lady Panthers took on the No. 1 seed in the state the Douglas Lady Bearcats. They took the win 58-16. Douglas proved why they are top rated, having a mercy rule of everyone they played during the tournament.

“We have been playing together since fourth-graders, so we know what works and what doesn’t,” senior Katie Mckenzie said. “We always pass the ball and we had lots of assists in our stats. I look forward to growing as a team throughout the season and playing my senior year with some of my best friends.”

The next day, the Lady Panthers recovered their loss by beating Pinedale, 29-21. Having a rough start from beginning to end in offense, their defense helped them win the game by stopping the Lady Wranglers from driving into the paint and stopping their shots. Katie Mckenzie made three 3-pointers in a row which helped the Lady Panthers on offense get the score up along with other points made by the team.

Boys Basketball:

The Panther boys’ basketball team traveled to Buffalo in a tournament Dece. 7-8 coming off with a rough start having a 0-3 record loss to start their season.  

The first game of the tournament the Panthers played Pinedale taking a loss 62-55.

The Panthers then played No. 2 seed Rawlins Outlaws on Dec. 8 taking a close loss with a score of 61-57.

“We kept team really close by playing good defense and focusing on the little things,” sophomore Landon Lengfelder said. “Our team could definitely improve on playing hard through all four quarters and our field goal percentage.”

Later that day, the Panthers came to play the number one seed on their home floor; Buffalo taking a 10-point loss, 63-53.

Wrestling: 

The Panthers won their home invitational Dec. 7-8. Some 17 teams attend from around the state.

Sophomore Emma Karhu was the only girl for the Powell  and third place in her weight division. Senior Reese Karst took first place at 132, while junior Bo Dearcorn took second at 182. Many other Powell wrestlers placed in the top seven for their weight.

“I stayed aggressive throughout the whole entire match and wrestled smart,” Karhu said. “Our team could improve on being more aggressive {during} the whole entire match.”

The following weekend, the Panthers won the Battle of the Big Horns tournament in Worland.

Boys Swimming:

The Panthers took first place in a varsity triangular meet in Powell on Dec. 7. Competing against the Worland Warriors, the Newcastle Dougies and our rivals the Cody Broncs.

Powell boys won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:56:31. Bryce Hogan earned first place in 1-meter diving. Richard Spann got first place in the 200 free. And in the boys 500 Trenton Wilson got first place with a time of 6:22:37.

“One thing that we did well at was having good sportsmanship,” sophomore Matt Hobbs said. “I personally {just encourage the freshman who are struggling to just keep swimming.”

The PHS swimmers went on to defeat Riverton in a home dual meet on Dec. 18.