Saratoga splits

It was a split weekend for Saratoga as the Panthers and Lady Panthers ventured down to Walden, Colo. to take on the North Park Wildcats and Lady Wildcats. The Saratoga boys were able to add another victory to their season as they defeated North Park with a nearly 20 point lead. Saratoga’s girls, meanwhile, suffered another loss as they fell to the Lady Wildcats by 7 points.

Lady Panthers

The Lady Panthers suffered an 0-2 weekend before their journey across the border as they suffered losses to Valley rivals the Encampment Lady Tigers and the Rock River Lady Longhorns. The Lady Wildcats, who are 6-2 for their season, added another loss to Saratoga’s season. With a single digit difference between the scores, the Lady Panthers are showing that they can bring it close.

“I was pleased with how the girls played this weekend,” said Heather Bartlett, head coach of the Saratoga Lady Panthers. “Walden is a very talented team on their home floor. We played them very close and I was especially pleased with our defense. I also saw good things on offense as well.”

Junior Aubrey Berger led Saratoga against the Lady Wildcats with 9 points, 9 rebounds and 5 steals. Sophomore Tasia Daley followed with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals and junior Taylor Bennett had 8 points and 6 rebounds. Also scoring were Savannah Wells, with 8 points, Mychaela Jackman with 7 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, Jenna Dew with 7 points and 7 rebounds and Melissa Pinedo with 6 points.

The amount of Lady Panthers getting into the scorebook showed that Saratoga makes their close games a team effort. Despite their best efforts, the game ended with a final score of 56-63.

Following their loss to North Park, the Lady Panthers are 3-7 for the season and 0-1 for conference. This weekend, they will face dual conference rivals as they host the Farson-Eden Lady Pronghorns (11-3, 1-0) on Friday at 4 p.m., which will be a white out game, and the Cokeville Lady Panthers (11-2, 0-0) on Saturday at noon.

Panthers

Following their split games the weekend before, the Panthers were able to add another win following their match-up against North Park. The Wildcats were already having a rough season and are currently 1-7 following their loss to Saratoga. The Panthers, similar to their game against Rock River, had large leads against the Wildcats and ended the game with a score of 67-49.

“This was a good game for us and a lot of the younger kids got significant varsity playing time,” said Jason Williams, head coach of the Saratoga Panthers. “I was pleased that the varsity was able to keep up their intensity and keep playing hard and executing even when we were up by 20 in the second quarter.”

Freshman Kelton Johnson was the lead scorer in the game against North Park with 15 points, followed by sophomore Teegan Love with 11 points, senior Sam Schneider with 10 points and junior Menphis Smith with 9 points. Schneider also had 9 rebounds and 2 steals, followed by Smith with 6 rebounds.

“This game was also very valuable to our younger guys, who were able to see what it takes to play at the varsity level,” Williams said. “These opportunities don’t come along very often during the season, so we were glad that we were able to get them in the game.”

With another win under their belt, Saratoga is 7-3 for the season and 0-1 for conference. They will host two conference foes this weekend, starting with the Farson-Eden Pronghorns (11-1, 1-0), which will be a white out game, on Friday at 4 p.m. and the Cokeville Panthers (8-2, 0-0) on Saturday at noon.

The white out game was a decision by the student council to help generate enthusiasm as Saratoga does not have a homecoming during the basketball season.