Saratoga takes State

Over the weekend, the Saratoga Panthers competed in the 1A/2A State Tournament in Casper, an event that had eluded them last season as they barely missed the chance to head into regionals. While competing, the Panthers would deal losses to the Kaycee Buckaroos, Upton Bobcats and the Farson-Eden Pronghorns to claim the State Championship.

The win was a historic one as the Panthers had never secured 1st place in the history of the program. This season began, however, with Saratoga wanting to walk off the court with no regrets.

"They're a really good basketball team and they're even better kids. They make the community proud and I could not be more honored to be their coach," said Jason Williams, head coach of the Panthers.

Panthers vs. Buckaroos

The weekend began for Saratoga as they faced Kaycee, the No. 3 ranked team from the 1A East. In the 1st quarter, the Buckaroos attempted to shut Saratoga out as they put up 13 points on the board while keeping the Panthers to 9 points. The 2nd quarter, however, saw Saratoga push ahead and keep the scoring lead for the remainder of the game.

Teegan Love led the Panthers against Kaycee with 25 points and 8 rebounds. Gavin Bartlett followed with 11 points, 3 assists and 3 steals and Logan Seahorn scored 7 points against the Buckaroos.

As the game ended, Saratoga had secured their first win of the weekend with a 7 point lead against Kaycee and sending the Buckaroos to the consolation bracket.

The final score was 50-43.

Panthers vs. Bobcats

Advancing to the semifinal round, the Panthers faced Upton on Friday night and were able to dispatch them with a 2-point lead. The cats had come into the State Tournament as the No. 1 seed from the 1A East and had dealt a loss to the St. Stephens Eagles the night before.

Having already secured a win while in Casper, Saratoga was not about to let the Bobcats stop them from reaching the Championship Round. 

Bartlett led the Panthers against Upton with 19 points and 3 assists and was followed by Love with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Noah Rimmer scored 14 points and had 13 rebounds and Menphis Smith had 8 rebounds.

The final score was 57-55.

Panthers vs. Pronghorns

On Saturday night, the Farson-Eden Pronghorns came into the Championship Round to defend their title. The year before they had dealt a loss to the Encampment Tigers with a 3-point tie-breaking buzzer beater in overtime. Despite losses to both the Tigers and the Panthers during the regular season, the Pronghorns had dealt a loss to Encampment the night before.

"They've been a sleeper team and we felt like that was the key to the game was to get ahead. They're really tough to play from behind. So, we felt like if we can get ahead of them, make them play from behind, we're going to be in a good spot," Williams said. "Farson does a great job of disrupting things and slowing things down."

Saratoga took that cue from the Pronghorns as they put in their own disruptors, the Bartlett Twins. Grant and Grady Bartlett, freshmen brothers, would speed around the court like two pinballs as they kept Farson-Eden agitated, often stealing the ball and making a shot no sooner than the Pronghorns had rebounded.

Within the 1st half of the game, the Panthers put a total of 22 points on the board with Farson-Eden trailing behind at 17 points and the largest lead being that of only 5 points. Additionally, there were a total of seven ties and eight lead changes within the first 16 minutes of the game.

Following halftime, the Panthers maintained their double-digit scoring as they put 13 points on the board in the 3rd quarter and another 17 points in the 4th quarter. In those following 16 minutes, the largest lead seen would be when the Panthers led Farson-Eden by a total of 14 points. Lead changes and ties were both at eight as the two teams battled it out on the hardwood.

Despite putting up 18 points in the 4th quarter, the Pronghorns were unable to speed past Saratoga and defend their title. As the clock ran down and the Panthers maintained their lead, it became apparent that Saratoga would deal a loss to the Pronghorns. 

Gavin Bartlett led the Panthers against Farson-Eden in the Championship Round with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Seahorn scored 16 points and was followed by Rimmer with 10 points and 8 rebounds.

The final score was 52-42.

With the season over, the Saratoga Panthers have ended it as the top team in the 1A Conference.