Not satisfied yet

The Saratoga Panthers started their season with something to prove and, as the regular season nears its end, they appear to be accomplishing that mission. This past week, Saratoga not only dealt a devastating loss to the North Park Wildcats on Tuesday in the Panther Den, but they also had a successful rematch against the Encampment Tigers (15-1, 5-1).

Panthers vs. Wildcats

When Saratoga first played North Park, it was on the Wildcats' home court and the Panthers sunk their claws into the Colorado cats with a 43-point lead. On Tuesday, as the Panthers played host to North Park, the Saratoga boys would secure another win with a much larger margin.

"I thought the game against North Park went well," said Jason Williams, head coach of the Panthers. "Everybody got to play and everybody scored. Our goal for the game was to come out and set the tone early and play our style of basketball, which we did."

In playing their style of basketball, Teegan Love led the Panthers with 15 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals. Following Love was senior Logan Seahorn with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 6 steals. Gavin Bartlett scored 9 points and had 7 assists while Grant Bartlett scored 9 points and had 4 rebounds. Menphis Smith also scored 9 points against North Park.

The final score against the Wildcats was 79-23.

Panther vs. Tigers

Following their 56-point win over North Park, the Panthers headed south into Tiger Nation for a rematch against Encampment. When Saratoga hosted the Tigers in January, Encampment left Saratoga with a 9-point victory over the Panthers. 

This time, Saratoga made sure the outcome was quite different.

"Encampment is obviously a very talented and very well coached team," Williams said. "I was very pleased with how the boys played defensively and I thought we showed good patience on offense. Even though Teegan filled up the score book, it was a total team effort to earn the win and it took everybody to do it."

"It was very exciting to beat Encampment on their home court by 16 (points)," said junior Noah Rimmer. "It was a good team win for us."

Love was the lead scorer with 29 points against the Tigers. Love also had 10 rebounds. Rimmer followed with 15 points and 7 rebounds. Seahorn scored 7 points and had 4 rebounds while Smith scored 5 points and had 5 rebounds. Gavin Bartlett had 8 rebounds and 8 assists.

"It was a privilege to see all of that talent on the floor and I hope the fans appreciate how hard those two teams have worked to get where they are," said Williams.

The final score against Encampment was 60-44.

Following their win against Encampment, the Panthers have two more conference games this weekend as they hit the road again. Saratoga will be hosted by the Farson-Eden Pronghorns (11-6, 2-3) on Friday and by the Cokeville Panthers (7-9, 0-4) on Saturday.

"Of course the win against Encampment was a great win for us and I think we will use that momentum this week as we prepare for Farson and Cokeville," Williams said. "Those are also two teams that we will have to be ready for and, as good as the win on Saturday felt, we need to focus now on getting ready for the weekend."

"It was a good confidence booster but we're not done yet," Rimmer said.

Following the wins this past week, the Panthers are now 14-1 for the season and 4-1 in conference play. 

Saratoga will be hosted by the Pronghorns at 4 p.m. on February 14 and by Cokeville at noon on February 15.