Lady Panthers are family

Lady Panther head coach Scott Bokelman has been diagnosed with thyroid lymphoma and his Panther family has his back.

A moment of silence in support of Bokelman preceded Saturdays game at Encampment.

Heather Bartlett has stepped in as interim head coach and said, "One of the things we say all the time in our huddle is 'family,'" adding that the team and the coaches are praying for and supporting Bokelman and his family.

A mid-season change in coaching staff is always disruptive, but Bartlett said, "You can let adversity tear you apart or bring you together and I feel like we have come together." The Saratoga girls (1-2 conference, 3-7 overall) played hard through the end of all three games last week, nearly pulling off a second-half comeback against the Lady Rattlers (1-0, 10-4) in Baggs on Friday.

On Jan. 19 the Lady Panthers traveled north to face the Hanna-Elk Mountain-Medicine Bow (HEM) Lady Miners (5-6). After going in to the half down by 8 points, the Saratoga girls rallied under their new coach and outscored HEM by 6 points in the third quarter.

Starting the fourth quarter with the game at 26-28 the Lady Panthers continued with strong rebounding but couldn't get some key shots to drop. Outscored by 4 points in the fourth, the Lady Panthers lost to the Lady Miners 43-37.

Shaelee Hamann stood out with nine rebounds although the team was working together for a total of 31 rebounds against HEM. Meredith Lincoln and Sarah Burton sank 29 of the Lady Panthers 37 points.

In Baggs on Friday it was a similar story. The Lady Panthers went in to the half down by 13, but came out for the second half with focus and purpose.

In a rowdy gym the girls outscored the Lady Rattlers by ten points with opportunities to tie the game near the end. Unfortunately, Saratoga could not get key shots to drop. Coach Bartlett said that the girls were amazing in the second half in Baggs with strong rebounding and improved their game by getting the ball to the post. "Playing Baggs as close as we did, even though its not technically a win, is a win," Bartlett said.

Hamann stepped up her offensive game against Baggs draining 11 points and Lincoln led the team with 14 points. The entire team worked the boards with 38 total rebounds.

On Saturday the Lady Panthers went south for a matchup against Encampment (1-1, 11-2) for the Lady Tigers' homecoming game. Coach Bartlett said she was impressed with her team's performance in Encampment as the score was closer than the last game against the Lady Tigers and the Lady Panthers put more points on the board.

After falling behind during a late-first quarter run by the Lady Tigers, Saratoga couldn't catch back up. Even with the continued trend of strong rebounding, the Lady Tigers played strong defense, limiting scoring opportunities. Lincoln and Cruz Escobedo did manage to find some holes in the Encampment defense scoring 14 and 9 points respectively. Hamann had 11 of the teams 29 rebounds in Encampment.

The Lady Panthers face two conference foes in Lusk (0-3, 4-10) and Southeast (2-0, 11-1) this weekend. Tip off in Lusk is at 5 p.m. for girl's varsity. On Saturday the Lady Panthers host the Lady Cyclones with a start time at 2:30 p.m.