Burns test

While the regular season hasn’t started yet, suffering losses during the pre-season isn’t something any team wants to face. Such was the case for the Saratoga Lady Panthers, who saw losses against the Southeast Lady Cyclones (29-40), the Pine Bluffs Lady Hornets (24-56) and the Lingle-Fort Laramie Lady Doggers (30-40) at the Burns Winter Classic in Burns over the weekend.

“This weekend did not go as we had hoped,” said Heather Bartlett, head coach of the Lady Panthers. “However, we played three really good teams and playing against good competition is always a positive.”

Saratoga vs. Southeast

In their first game of the season, the Saratoga girls took on the 2A Lady Cyclones and lost by only 11 points—a positive takeaway when facing a team that is in a higher conference. Junior Aubrey Berger led the Lady Panthers, scoring 8 points, and had 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Senior Mychaela Jackman scored 6 points and had 4 rebounds and a steal and junior Taylor Bennett scored 4 points and had 2 assists.

Saratoga vs. Pine Bluffs

The Lady Panthers faced off against the Lady Hornets, another 2A team, following their loss to Southeast. Saratoga would end up losing to Pine Bluffs by 32 points. Berger, again, led the team with 7 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Bennett scored 6 points against Pine Bluffs, as did Savanna Wells. Jackman had 3 assists and 3 steals and Tasia Daley had a total of 5 rebounds.

Saratoga vs. Lingle-Fort Laramie

The game against the Lady Doggers was the only one during the entire tournament where Saratoga faced another 1A team. Ultimately, the Lady Panthers would fall by 10 points to Lingle-Fort Laramie. Jackman and Wells both scored 9 points against the Lady Doggers, while Jackman had 3 rebounds and 3 steals and Wells had 2 rebounds and 2 steals.

Senior Tiffany Bauer scored 8 points against Lingle-Fort Laramie and had 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Bennett followed with 7 points, 2 rebounds and a steal.

“I saw some really great things this weekend and we got a great idea of what we need to work on,” Bartlett said. “Overall, I feel it was a good weekend full of learning experience.”

This weekend, the Lady Panthers will compete in the Shoshoni Wrangler Invite where they will begin by facing off against the Burlington Lady Huskies at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.