Lady Panthers head to Lander

The Saratoga Lady Panthers hosted their final home game of the season on February 18 as they faced off against the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Lady Rattlers. 

The matchup between the Lady Panthers and LSRV was more than just a conference game, however, as regional seeding was on the line.

"This was a big conference game for us," said Head Coach Heather Bartlett. "Had we won we would have tied for 2nd in the conference. However, we came up a little short and lost. This was a disappointing loss for us."

Due to the results of their last regular season game, Saratoga will be going into the regional tournament as the No. 3 Southwest Seed. While the final score shows a double-digit loss for the Lady Panthers, the final score doesn't tell the whole story for the Lady Panthers.

"We were tied going into the 4th quarter and then could not hang on at the end of the game. We got in foul trouble this game, which came back to bite us at the end of the game," Bartlett said. "Overall, I was proud of the girls' effort. I feel like they gave me their best. We just came up a little short in the end."

Bartlett had praise for the lone senior on her team, Sam Fiedor.

"Sam Fiedor, playing her last home game, totally showed up for us and had one of her best games of the year with 10 points and she took 2 charges during the game," said Bartlett.

The Lady Panthers' head coach also highlighted other members of the team during Saratoga's final home game.

"Olivia Everett also had 10 points and was on track to  have a season high for points before she fouled out at the beginning of the 4th quarter," Bartlett said. "Whitney (Bennett) had a very impressive 13 rebounds and Rhiwan (Williams) had a great defensive performance for us and held Snake River's best player to 4 points."

Along with the 10 points scored by Fiedor and the 2 charges, she also had 6 rebounds. Everett had 2 rebounds and 2 steals in addition to her 10 points. Williams scored 7 points and had 9 rebounds while Benett scored 2 points and had 4 assists and 3 steals along with her 13 rebounds. Allie Condict also contributed to the scoring with 4 points, 2 rebounds and 1 steal and Maddie Teishman had 3 assists and 3 steals.

The final score was 47-34, LSRV.

As the regular season ends, the Saratoga Lady Panthers are 10-6 for the season and 4-4 for conference play.

The first game for the Lady Panthers at the 1A West Regional Tournament will be at 7 p.m. on February 24 against the Meeteetse Lady Longhorns at the Lander High School Auxiliary Gym.

The winner of that game will go on to face the winner of the quarterfinal match between the Cokeville Lady Panthers and the Encampment Lady Tigers.