Panthers drop one, pick one up

The Saratoga Panthers had a split weekend as they saw a conference loss against the Encampment Tigers (58-77), but saw yet another home court win after facing the Rock River Longhorns (84-53). During the game against the Longhorns, Saratoga started with an early lead as they ended the first quarter with a 21-point lead.

Saratoga vs. Encampment

Going into the winter break, Saratoga had an overtime victory over the Hanna, Elk Mountain and Medicine Bow (HEM) Miners while Encampment's (10-0, 1-0) pre-break game had been cancelled. The Panthers, however, seemed to be caught off guard as they were only able to score 6 points in the first quarter to the Tigers' 18 points. Attempted shots by sophomore Teegan Love and senior Sam Schneider, at times, missed their mark, allowing rival Encampment to get ahead.

Playing against the Tigers, Schneider scored 18 points and had 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Love followed with 15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals and Seahorn scored 12 points and had 5 rebounds and 2 steals.

Coming into the second quarter, the Panthers seemed to have found their feet as they scored a total of 18 points. The Tigers, however, kept their double digit lead despite Saratoga's best attempts to cut Encampment short. As they headed into halftime, the Panthers trailed the Tigers by nearly 20 points with a score of 24-43.

"We didn't have our legs underneath us and you could tell. Like I told them in the locker room, that's an easy fix to get our stamina back. At halftime, I told them what I wanted from them in the second half was lot of effort and they gave that," said Jason Williams, head coach of the Saratoga Panthers.

Saratoga continued to have trouble against Encampment, but took their coach's words to heart as they increased their effort on the court. While the Panthers scored another 13 points in the third quarter and 21 points in the final quarter, it wasn't enough to close the gap. As the Panthers increased their scoring, the Tigers continued to maintain their lead. The game ended with a conference loss for Saratoga as the game ended with a score of 58-77.

While it may be a conference loss, it is early enough in the season that the Panthers can make adjustments from what they saw on the court in Encampment.

"It's early in the season and give credit to them (Encampment Tigers), they play hard and they pass the ball well and we're just going to need to be a little more mentally ready for that next time," said Williams.

Saratoga vs. Rock River

If the loss against Encampment the night before was on their minds, the Panthers didn't show it as they hosted Rock River (3-5, 0-0) in the Panther Den on Saturday. While the Longhorns drew first blood with a 3-pointer in the first seconds of the game, Saratoga wasted no time in recovering and surging ahead with successful rebounds, ending the first quarter with a 21 point lead while only allowing Rock River to score 8 points.

"I was real happy that they were able to recover mentally from last night. That can be kind of hard and they did a good job," Williams said.

In the second quarter, the Longhorns recovered and began to work on closing the gap with several 3-pointers. Saratoga, however, continued to maintain their double digit lead. As the game wore on, Rock River continued to trail as the Panthers extended their lead to 30 points.

Love scored 26 points against Rock River and had 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Schneider followed with 16 points, 13 rebounds and 4 steals while Seahorn scored 13 points, had 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals.

During the fourth quarter, with Saratoga so far ahead, Williams substituted his starters for much of the junior varsity bench, leaving in varsity players Gavin Bartlett, Menphis Smith and Noah Rimmer.

Instead of falling behind, the Panthers maintained their substantial lead against Rock River.

Freshman Geoffrey Johnson, shortly after heading onto the court, scored a 3-pointer against the Longhorns. The other underclassmen proved just as determined to prove themselves on the court as evidenced by their turnovers, rebounds and battle for the ball. Freshman Kelton Johnson put himself in the scorebook with 5 points during the final quarter. As the game ended, Saratoga saw a win for the weekend as they defeated the Longhorns 84-53.

"That's a really good problem to have is having a lot of kids and a lot of kids that want to play and want to do well. They work hard in practice and we're starting to see that in the games," said Williams.

Following their conference loss and their non-conference win, the Saratoga Panthers are now 6-3 for the season and 0-1 for conference. The Panthers have only one game this weekend as they head southbound to face the North Park Wildcats at 4 p.m. in Walden, Colo.