Grit and determination

Lady Panthers show fire in 2-loss weekend, Panthers take double win weekend

The Saratoga Panthers hit the road for two cat fights this weekend. The Panthers traveled to Walden, Colo. to face off against the North Park Wildcats on Friday and crossed paths with the Tigers in Encampment. Both games saw the Lady Panthers defeated and the Panthers victorious.

Lady Panthers vs.

Lady Wildcats

Traveling to Walden, the young team of Lady Panthers took on the Lady Wildcats on their home court. While still working on scoring, Saratoga has been improving their defense as they had several steals and rebounds against Walden.

"Taylor Bennett had a great game in Walden," said Heather Bartlett, head coach of the Saratoga Lady Panthers.

Bartlett added that junior Shiann Baker and freshman Taisa Dailey had good games against the Wildcats as well.

Taylor Bennett led the team in scoring against the Wildcats with 12 points–all of them 3-point shots. Shiann Baker followed with 6 points and Taisa Dailey with 4.

On the trek to Walden the Lady Panthers lost to the Lady Wildcats 61-32.

Lady Panthers vs.

Lady Tigers

The Lady Panthers drew first blood as they took on the Lady Tigers, scoring two points in the opening seconds of the first quarter. The girls managed to keep their Valley rivals from scoring for the first four minutes, but Encampment soon found their footing and surged ahead. At the half, the team of young Lady Panthers trailed Encampment by 29 points.

Saratoga would not allow themselves to be discouraged though and the Lady Panthers scored another 12 points in the second half of the game.

"Encampment was a tough game for all the girls but I was proud of their effort and never giving up," said Bartlett

Makiya Johnson and Taylor Bennet led the Lady Panthers in scoring against Encampment with 5 points each. Taisa Daley, Tiffany Bauer and Shiann Baker added 2 points apiece

The Lady Tigers would lead Saratoga by 40 points through most of the final quarter. As the game came to an end, the final score was 54-16.

"There were several freshman and sophomores who stepped up and filled positions this weekend outside of the usual positions they play," said Bartlett.

After this weekend the Lady Panthers are 0-5 for conference and 3-11 for the season.

Panthers vs. Wildcats

The Panthers saw the first win of their double-win weekend as they took on the Wildcats in Colorado.

"Friday's game was good for us; we started fast and jumped out to a big lead in the first quarter," said Jason Williams, head coach of the Saratoga Panthers.

Williams also said that the goal of the team going into the game was to make it a learning experience.

"We were able to play everyone in the game," he added.

Sam Schneider and Nathan Rimmer led the team in scoring against the Wildcats with 18 points each. Gage Bartlett and Ben Fairbanks followed with 12 points and Teegan Love with 6 points.

Rimmer also led the team in rebounds with 14 and Bartlett led the team in steals with 7.

Saratoga left Walden with a 71-58 win.

Panthers vs. Tigers

After having faced the Wildcats the day before, Saratoga entered Tiger Nation on Saturday. The Panthers hosted the Tigers earlier in January and celebrated an overtime victory. While the game in Encampment would not enter overtime, it would see the Panthers have yet another narrow win over their Valley and conference rivals.

Led by Bartlett and Rimmer, Saratoga would stay tied with the Tigers until the middle of the second quarter. The Panthers would find momentum against the Tigers as Wyatt Cox, one of the starters for Encampment, sat out most of the half after fouling twice in the first quarter.

As they entered halftime, the Panthers led Encampment 31-38. Saratoga would try to increase that lead, but the Tigers made sure to never let the gap grow to more than 7 points.

"I thought we played well the entire game and we executed our offense and our game plan went well," said Williams.

Bartlett was the high scorer for Saratoga with 23 points, followed by Rimmer with 20 points and Schneider with 11.

Bartlett also led the Panthers in rebounding with 8 caroms against Encampment, followed by Schneider with 7, Rimmer with 6 and sophomore Logan Seahorn with 5 rebounds. Seahorn also had 5 assists in Saturday's game.

"This was a great team win for us and it took everybody on the team to get the win," said Williams, "Encampment is a really good team and they are very well coached."

After this weekend, the Saratoga Panthers are 3-2 for conference and 10-4 for the season.

The Saratoga Panthers and Lady Panthers will be on the road again as they travel to face the Cokeville Panthers at 4 p.m. in Cokeville and the Farson-Eden Pronghorns at noon in Farson.

 

Reader Comments(0)