Triple-threat Bennett

It doesn't take an avid basketball fan to see that Saratoga's Whitney Bennett loves to play the game. Whether in person or, due to limits on attendance, on the National Federation of State High Schools (NFHS) network one can see how involved the sophomore Lady Panther is on the court.

The love of that game takes the young player a long way.

Last year, as a freshman, Whitney and her older sister, Taylor, helped the 2020 Lady Panthers break a longstanding team record. Scoring a total of 82 points against the North Park Wildcats, they surpassed a record set by the 2004 Lady Panthers when they scored 79 points against Burns.

While Taylor graduated last year, Whitney doesn't appear to be stopping as she has shattered three individual records this season. On January 30, the first two records were broken while the Lady Panthers were hosted by the Guernsey-Sunrise Lady Vikings. In that match-up, she scored 41 points and had 16 steals.

In scoring 41 points against the Lady Vikings, Whitney broke a record that was older than she is and had been set by Saratoga alumnus Tori Runner when she scored 39 points against Burns during the 2003/2004 season. Additionally, that 41 points puts Whitney up high on the list maintained by http://www.wyoming-basketball.com, where she joined Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) alumnus Donna Martin, who scored 41 points against Pine Bluffs during the 1981/1982 season.

The scoring didn't come as much of a shock to Whitney, who had been informed by Head Coach Heather Bartlett how close she was during the game.

"At the beginning of the 4th quarter she's like 'You need eight more (points) to break the school record so just go do that and I kind of kept track," said Whitney. "So I knew pretty soon after I did that, I got it."

The steals, however, were a different matter. Whitney said she didn't know right away how many steals she had against the Lady Vikings or whether it broke a school record. Not only did she break that record, but it appears that she shattered it as she is the only Saratoga athlete to appear on the Wyoming basketball list. Additionally, the current Lady Panther surpasses current HEM Lady Miner Amy Campbell, who had 13 steals in the 2018/2019 season against the Midwest Lady Oilers, and Lady Miners Amanda Booth and Penny Blauvelt, who each had 14 steals in their respective games.

"A lot of that credit needs to go to my teammates. They're doing everything, getting the tips and doing all the hard work, and I can just go get an easy steal," Whitney said. "I end up getting some of the credit but a lot of it just goes to my teammates."

When the Saratoga Sun originally interviewed Whitney on February 10, she said she had her sights on other school records. Less than two weeks later, she broke yet another school record. When Saratoga was hosted by the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Lady Rattlers, Bennett put up 18 rebounds. According to Bartlett, that breaks Saratoga's single rebounding record.

At least one record that Whitney has on her list is the 1,000 Point Club. Saratoga senior Teegan Love joined the ranks of that club earlier this season, as did HEM senior Amy Campbell.

Along with crediting her teammates, Whitney also credits her coaches for the success she's seen in resetting the Saratoga record break recently.

"Definitely my coaches and Mr. (Rex) Hohnholt," said Whitney. "Mr. Hohnholt is great. He comes into the weight room all the time with me, always there, and my coaches are just amazing."