Lady Tigers roar again in a 40-38 win over Saratoga

The Encampment Lady Tigers dominated the first three-quarters of their rematch with the Saratoga Lady Panthers. Saratoga attempted to steal the game with under two minutes left in the 4th quarter.

At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Lady Tigers had a 15-point lead but the Lady Panthers turned it into a catfight. They reduced the deficit to 12 points midway through the 4th quarter and, in the final minutes, Saratoga was down by 2 points but it was too late the Lady Panthers could not make their shot from the inbound.

Encampment prevailed with a 40-38 win over their Valley rival. The Lady Tigers’ Kristie Jordan and Savannah Fagan played strong defense in the early quarters of the game. Encampment, despite being short-handed, was able to stop the Lady Panthers from taking the game in the final seconds

Jordan, who was fouled out late in the 4th quarter, said even though Saratoga attempted to steal the game she was not a bit nervous about losing because she put her trust in her team and had faith in them.

“We were down a few girls and a lot of us had to pick up the slack,” Jordan said. “The problem was that two of our starters were out and I was not nervous at all in the final minutes because I knew my girls could pull it through”.

Fagan said injuries may have slowed the team down but even though the Lady Panthers tried to come back, she knew how to play them at crunch time.

“They did not come at us, we were just at a weak point of the game,” Fagan said. “I felt they played us tougher last time when we played them. I knew what I had to do when I went up against them.”

Early in the 1st quarter, the Lady Tigers took a quick 2-point lead. With less than six minutes on the clock, Encampment made a 3-point shot to make it 5-0 in favor of the Lady Tigers. Encampment struck again with 5:20 on the clock to score another 2 points. At that point, the Lady Tigers had a 7-0 lead over Saratoga.

The Lady Panthers went to the free throw line with 4:55 on the clock but missed both shots. Saratoga got a big steal with 4:19 on the clock but the Lady Panthers failed to capitalize on Encampment’s turnover. Saratoga quickly got the ball back again but missed a scoring opportunity.

Finally, with 3:09 on the clock, the Lady Panthers got on the board with a 2-point shot. At that point the Lady Tigers were still in control of the game with a 7-2 lead. With under three minutes on the clock both teams struggled to score. In the final minutes Encampment scored 4 points and Saratoga scored 1 point. The Lady Tigers took an 11-3 lead at the end of the 1st quarter.

Going into the 2nd quarter both teams struggled to score their shots. But with 6:40 on the clock, the Lady Panthers only made one shot on the free throw line and the score was 11-4 with Encampment leading. With 5:38 on the clock, the Lady Panthers went back to the free-throw line and scored 2 points. But the Lady Tigers quickly scored 2 points with under 5 minutes on the clock and the score was now 13-6.

With 2:03 on the clock, the Lady Panthers made a big steal and got fouled. Saratoga went to the free-throw line and made only 1 point. The score was now 13-7, Encampment leading.

Both teams tried to score in the final two minutes. Encampment made one more basket and took a 14-7 lead at the half.

In the 3rd quarter, Saratoga scored quickly when Lady Panther Allie Condict got a steal and the score was 14-9, Encampment. With 6:21 on the clock, the Lady Tigers went to the free-throw line but missed both shots. Encampment quickly got a steal and scored 2 points, which was 16-9 in favor of the Lady Tigers.

With under five minutes on the clock, Encampment scored twice, giving the Lady Tigers a 20-9 lead. The Lady Panthers went to the free-throw line at 3:49 and made both shots. The score was now 20-11, Encampment With under three minutes on the clock the Lady Tigers were able to score 10 more points and the Lady Panthers scored 4 points. The score was 30-15, Encampment with the lead.

The 4th quarter turned into a tug-a-war where both teams duked it out for a full eight minutes, the Lady Tigers scored 4 points and the Lady Panthers added 2 more points to make it a 34-17 Encampment lead. With under four minutes left, Encampment got 4 more points and Saratoga got 7 more points.

With 3:19 on the clock, the Lady Panthers tried to make the game close but free throws became their worst enemy as they missed two shots at the free throw line. The score was now 38-24, Encampment.

The Lady Panthers reduced the deficit to twelve when they scored 2 points and the score was now 38-26, Encampment. Saratoga made it clear they were far from being done and that they would only go down with a fight. The Lady Panthers made an important basket to reduce the lead to 38-31 with 1:58 on the clock.

the Lady Panthers were knocking at the door when they made one free throw The score was

Saratoga called a timeout with 1:14 on the clock in hopes of making a comeback. With 1:07 left now 38-32, Lady Tigers with the lead.

With under a minute left, the Lady Panthers were able to score again and the score was now 38-34. Saratoga struck again with 52.6 seconds on the clock and the Lady Panthers were now down by two points with the score 38-36.

The Lady Tigers scored with 30.8 seconds on the clock to turn their lead to 40-36.

Saratoga answered back with 22 seconds on the clock. There was a look of concern by the Lady Tigers coach staff with the score now 40-38.

Encampment went to the free throw line with 17.3 seconds on the clock but missed both shots and allowed the Lady Panthers a chance to steal the game. Saratoga got a steal with 7 seconds on the clock but failed to capitalize on Encampment’s turnover. The Lady Tigers walked off with a 40-38 win.

Kevin Pantle, head coach of the Encampment Lady Tigers, said he knew the Lady Panthers were not going to be easy and head coach, Heather Bartlett, would have her girls ready for battle.

“Saratoga always plays us tough and it’s always a battle here in the Valley,” Pantle said. “Heather always has her girls prepared and ready to go and amped up. Any time you play Saratoga it’s always going to be a tight game so it did not surprise me at all that they were going to be tough”.

Pantle said a combination of fouls and being short-handed caused the Lady Tigers to get up their 12-point lead over Saratoga.

“We lost two starters and we fouled out with 5 minutes on the clock with a big lead,” Pantle said. “Our number one point guard was out by fouls and our number two point guard is out with an illness and then we lost another girl with a dislocated elbow. So we were short-handed as far as ball handlers go.” Pantle said losing Kyenna Jackson and Jordan to fouls hurt the Lady Tigers, but he was proud of how the other girls were able to finish the game.

Despite the Lady Panthers’ courageous effort to make a comeback, Bartlett said it was too little too late for her girls.

“We just really had a bad first half, “ Bartlett said. “We really picked it up in the second half and there was a lot of effort on defense but by then it was too little too late. If it was one minute longer we probably could have won. Alie Condict sparked our defense in the second half and made some key steals to keep us in the game. Everyone fed off her energy and we had a good 4th quarter but it was just too late for us.”

Bartlet said when the Lady Tigers’ two best players fouled out, she felt they had a chance to at least tie the game and send it to overtime.

“I thought that we were going to get a score off the inbound Barlett said,” I was hoping to get the game into overtime and have a chance at winning since Encampments’ two best players were fouled out but we could not make the shot and the ball rolled the wrong way. I give credit to Kevin’s girls. They played hard. Despite some of his players being injured and fouled out, they managed to get the win”.