Lady Panthers Scratch Out Three

The Saratoga Lady Panthers started off their season with a roar, going 3-1 as they co-hosted the Carbon County Classic in Saratoga on December 13 and December 14.

While the Lady Panthers took a loss from the Burlington Lady Huskies, they also dealt two losses to the St. Stephens Lady Eagles and a loss to the Dubois Lady Rams.

“We lost to a very strong Burlington team. It was a 5-point game halfway through the third quarter before it got out of hand due to turnovers and not being able to shut down their 3 point shots,” said Head Coach Logan Wright. “We recovered from that loss in the first game and won our next three [games]. We beat Dubois [on] Saturday morning by 19 [points]. This is a good sign as they knocked us out of regionals last year by 1 point. The girls are learning and working hard.”

Saratoga vs. Burlington

The first game of the tournament for the Lady Panthers didn’t take place until the evening as they took on Burlington. The boys had just narrowly defeated the Huskies and the Lady Huskies showed the same determination on the hardwood.

While Saratoga started out with a good lead over the Lady Huskies, it soon became obvious it would be a tight game. With 2:31 left in the first quarter, Burlington had taken the lead from the Lady Panthers and went on to establish a four point lead with a scoring gap by as much as 7 points. A 3-pointer from Laenee Barkhurst, however, helped close the gap before heading into the second quarter.

To start the second quarter, Sophie Diaz made a basket to put the score at 12-14. Throughout the entire eight minutes, the Lady Panthers and Burlington battled up and down the hardwood. Due to the defense from both sides, the scoring was fairly even with Saratoga putting up a total of 8 points and the Lady Huskies putting up 10 points.

It was when both teams returned from halftime, however, that Burlington raced ahead in scoring. In less than four minutes, the Lady Huskies established an 11 point lead over Saratoga. By the end of the third quarter, the lead increased to 20 points with a score of 22-42.

The final quarter was much of the same as Burlington kept scoring and prevented the Lady Panthers from making a basket. The Lady Huskies put up a total of 21 points while Saratoga only put up 6 in the fourth quarter. The final score was 28-63.

Saratoga vs. St. Stephens

Following their loss, the Lady Panthers took on St. Stephens. In the end, Saratoga’s deep bench proved insurmountable for the Lady Eagles.

In the first game, the Lady Panthers quickly took ownership of their home court as they put up 10 points in three minutes. It wasn’t until there was 3:30 left in the first quarter that St. Stephens made a basket. With their drought broken, the Lady Eagles did some catching up. Saratoga led 13-7 going into the second quarter.

The second quarter saw much more scoring from the Lady Panthers as they put up a total of 17 points compared to just 9 points from St. Stephens. A strong defense which included steals and forcing the Lady Eagles to make turnovers helped with increasing that lead. Going into halftime, the Lady Panthers were in the lead 30-16.

Coming back from halftime, Saratoga just kept on scoring as they put 23 points on the board while keeping the Lady Eagles to just 5 points. In the final quarter, St. Stephens was unable to score once while the Lady Panthers put up another 11 points.

The final score was 64-21.

Saratoga beat the Lady Eagles again on Saturday with a score of 66-35.

Saratoga vs. Dubois

Going up against Dubois, the Lady Panthers were able to measure how well prepared they were for this season. Last year, during the 1A West Regional Tournament, the Lady Rams ensured an early exit for Saratoga with a narrow 43-44 loss.

This year, the Lady Panthers established they were prepared for Dubois as they defeated the Lady Rams 45-26.

Following this weekend, the Saratoga Lady Panthers have a record of 3-1 and share the top spot in the 1A Southwest Conference with the Encampment Lady Tigers.

Saratoga will compete in one more preseason tournament before the holiday break, playing in the Wrangler Invite on December 19 and 20 in Shoshoni.