Panthers buzz past the Hornets

The Saratoga Panthers had a successful weekend while competing in the Burns Invite as they went 3-0 against two 2A teams and a 1A team from the Southeast Conference. The Panthers, in fact, dealt a loss by one point to the Pine Bluffs Hornets, the defending 2A State Runner-ups over the weekend.

“I thought the boys played very well, especially for their first weekend of action,” said Jason Williams, head coach of the Panthers. “We played what we felt were three solid teams, so it was a great chance to see where we are at right off the bat.”

Panthers vs. Cyclones

The first game for Saratoga was against the 2A ranked Southeast Cyclones. Despite being in a higher conference, the Panthers were able to sink their claws into Southeast and come away with an 8 point lead by the end of the game. Saratoga, in fact, started out with a lead against the Cyclones as they ended the 1st quarter 12-10. In the 2nd quarter, the Panthers would sweep Southeast off the court as they put another 17 points on the board while keeping the Cyclones to only six.

While Southeast appeared to gain some momentum in the second half, it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit they were put in by the Panthers and Saratoga put their first win of the season under their belt.

Teegan Love was the top scorer against the Cyclones with 28 points, Menphis Smith scored 12 points, Noah Rimmer and Logan Seahorn each scored 8 points and Gavin Bartlett scored 6 points.

Panthers vs. Doggers

After taking the wind out of the Cyclones, Saratoga next faced the Lingle-Ft. Laramie Doggers where they saw their biggest points spread of the weekend with a 20-point lead by the end of the game.

In the 1st quarter, Saratoga leapt onto the hardwood with 17 points while keeping the Doggers to 6 points. Throughout the whole game, in fact, the most that Lingle-Ft. Laramie would score in any quarter would be 10 points as the Panthers kept them to single digit scores. Saratoga, meanwhile, would put double digits on the board in the first three quarters. The final score against the Doggers would see Saratoga ahead 48-28.

Love was the lead scorer as he put 14 points on the board. Smith followed with 7 points and Rimmer and Gavin Bartlett each scored 6 points.

Panthers vs. Hornets

The final game of the weekend for Saratoga was against the Hornets, who came in 2nd place last year during the 2A State Tournament. 

“I was very pleased with our defense and rebounding and, especially in the Pine Bluffs game, those are the two factors that won the game for us,” Williams said. “I also really liked how balanced our scoring was in the Pine Bluffs game. The boys really gutted that game out and we came back from being down by five with 1:39 left to winning the game on a buzzer beater basket by Noah Rimmer.”

The buzzer beater by Rimmer would put the Panthers ahead by a single point against Pine Bluffs, giving them three wins for the weekend.

Love scored 17 points against the Hornets and was followed by Rimmer with 16 points. Seahorn and Smith each scored 12 points against Pine Bluffs and Gavin Bartlett scored 7 points.

The next outing for the Saratoga Panthers will be this weekend as they compete in the Wrangler Invite in Shoshoni. Their first game will be against the Dubois Rams at 1 p.m. on Dec. 20.