Saratoga resets the record book

The Saratoga Lady Panthers had a record-setting week as they hosted the North Park Lady Wildcats on February 4, which led them to another conference win against the Encampment Lady TIgers (5-11, 0-6) on Saturday.

This season, sitting at No. 2 in the 1A Southwest Conference, is in stark contrast to the previous season when the Lady Panthers secured a spot in regionals through a pig-tail play-in at the end of the regular season.

Lady Panthers vs. Lady Wildcats

"This game was an amazing game," said Heather Bartlett, head coach of the Lady Panthers. "It is the best game we have played all season. The girls really showed what they are capable of during this game. We scored 82 points, which puts us leading 1A in points scored during a single game and 2nd in all classes."

Not only does the 82 points scored during the North Park game put Saratoga in a top spot within the 1A Conference, it also led to resetting the Saratoga record book for points scored in a single game for the Lady Panthers.

"Taylor and Whitney Bennett were amazing that night and each scored 25 points for a combined 50 points that game," Bartlett said. "Taylor shot 5 for 7 from the 3-point line for 71 percent shooting. Whitney was all over the place posting up and making jump shots. It was neat to watch them play together as sisters and get this accomplishment."

Along with the 25 points each Bennett scored, T. Bennett also had 5 rebounds and 4 assists while W. Bennett had 21 rebounds, 7 steals and 3 assists.

"Many of the other girls score pretty respectable amounts to put us up to 82 points," said Bartlett.

Jenna Dew scored 9 points and had 5 rebounds and 3 assists, Savannah Wells scored 8 points and had 3 rebounds and 3 assists, Sam Fiedor scored 8 points and had 5 rebounds and 3 steals and Tasia Daley scored 6 points and had 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

"Having that many girls score a decent amount of points shows how deep our team is," Bartlett said. "I have been telling the girls all year that if they could come together on one night it would be pretty impressive and they were able to do it on Tuesday. I am proud of the entire team and the effort they put forth."

The final score against North Park was 82-63.

Lady Panthers vs. Lady Tigers

"I think that our game against North Park really boosted our confidence for our game against Encampment," said Wells. "Our Encampment game went really well and gave us a set spot for regionals."

"This was a big conference game for us and the girls were able to step up and get a good win for us on the road," Bartlett said. "We had different girls step and play well for us this game than in the Walden game."

Wells would lead the team against Encampment with 14 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Dew followed with 9 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals, W. Bennett scored 8 points and had 9 rebounds and 4 assists and Daley scored 7 points and had 5 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists.

"Savannah's speed really showed during this game and she had several breakaway lay-ups," said Bartlett. "Jenna Dew also stepped up this game. The girls all did a good job of switching things up and they did a great job of moving the ball around on offense and getting high-quality shots around the basket. They played well as a team."

The final score against Encampment was 49-33.

The Lady Panthers will have more conference games this weekend as the regular season begins to come to an end. On Friday, they will be hosted by the Farson-Eden Lady Pronghorns (6-12, 1-4) and will be hosted by the Cokeville Lady Panthers (14-2, 4-0) on Saturday.

"Getting ready to face Farson-Eden and Cokeville is going to take a lot of work and preparation," Wells said. "We definitely can't overlook Farson because they are still a good team, but if we beat Farson that will put us in a good spot in the seeding and also boost our confidence against Baggs when we play them again."

Following this weekend, the Lady Panthers are at No. 2 in the 1A Southwest Conference. Saratoga is at 9-7 for the season and 4-1 in conference play.

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

February 15.