Saratoga pounces on Rattlers, Broncs

The Saratoga Panthers aren't wasting any time in adding wins to their conference and season record as they dealt losses to two teams last week. On February 2, the Panthers defanged the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Rattlers (1-9, 0-5) before they broke the 3A Burns Broncs on Friday.

Panthers vs. Rattlers

The Panthers hosted their first match against LSRV on Tuesday evening with both teams looking for a win. With a portion of their season paused due to quarantine, Saratoga took to the hardwood with a 0-1 conference record compared to the Rattlers 0-4 record. The Panthers not only added a win to their record, but did so with a substantial lead.

"It was good to get a conference win against LSRV last Tuesday. Any conference win is a good win," said Jason Williams, head coach of the Saratoga Panthers. "It kind of felt like it took us a little bit to get into a groove against Baggs but, when we did, we were able to get a pretty massive run on Snake River and finish the half with a sizable lead."

Because of that lead before halftime, Saratoga initiated a running clock on the Rattlers in the second half of the match. With the time running down and a sufficient lead over LSRV, Williams was able to get everyone on the roster some court time with 10 of the players getting into the scorebook.

Senior Teegan Love scored 12 points against the Rattlers and was followed by the Bartlett Bunch. Sophomore Grant Bartlett also scored 12 points while twin brother, Grady Bartlett, scored 10 points and senior Gavin Bartlett scored 9 points. Senior Noah Rimmer scored 8 points, J.D. Buttle scored 7 points and Heston Fisher scored 6 points. Frank Crimmins and Geoffrey Johnson both contributed 3 points to the team win and Calvin Condict scored 2 points.

The final score was 72-28.

Panthers vs. Broncs

With a substantial conference win under their belt, Saratoga headed east as they were hosted by the Broncs. Burns is at the bottom of the 3A Southeast Conference and the visit from the Panthers likely didn't help any as Saratoga dealt them a double-digit loss.

"Burns was a great game for us because it was the first game our starters were able to play the whole game since we came back from quarantine," Williams said. "We came out fast in that game, which we didn't do against Baggs, so that was good to see. I felt like we played well in all phases of the game, which was what we needed to do as we move into the most important games of the season."

Love led the Panthers against Burns as he scored 28 points and had 7 rebounds. The Bartlett Bunch contributed to the win as well as Grant Bartlett scored 10 points and had 6 rebounds, Grady Bartett scored 10 points and Gavin Bartlett nearly achieved a triple double with 9 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Rimmer contributed to the win with 6 points.

Following their wins, the Saratoga Panthers are 9-2 for the season and 1-1 for conference play. The next week will be busy for Saratoga as they face three conference foes. 

Saratoga will be hosted by the Cokeville Panthers (7-6, 2-1) at 6 p.m. on February 12 and by the Farson-Eden Pronghorns (10-2, 3-1) at 1:30 p.m. on February 13. The Panthers will then host the Encampment Tigers (9-1, 3-1) on February 16.