After a somewhat treacherous journey to the southern side of the state, both Panther basketball teams punched their tickets into the 3A State Tournament.

The Panther boys team began their weekend with a 66-57 victory over the Pinedale Wranglers which matched them up against the Lyman Eagles. Lyman went into the tournament as the number one seed from the Southwest region. 

The following day, the boys fell to the Eagles in the semi-final round which took away the Panther’s opportunity of earning the Regional Championship title for the second year in a row. 

Although they fell to the Eagles, the boys put up 63 points against Lander’s 39 points, which allowed them to qualify for the state championship as the third seed.

“I feel pretty confident that we can do very good in the state tournament,” senior Jace Hyde said. “We have been playing very well, and I think it’ll carry on into state.”

For the first time in years, the Lady Panther basketball team will be competing in the State Championship after taking third at Regionals.

In the first round, the Lady Panthers took on the Lander Lady Tigers and came out on top with a score of 46-30. Like the boys, the girls also fell to the Lyman Eagles in the second round; the Eagles ended up taking home the Regional title.

On Saturday, the girls qualified for the State Championship after beating the Lovell Lady Bulldogs 52-33. 

“We’ve worked hard for this [chance at state] all season,” senior Kami Jensen said. “Ultimately, I think every team’s goal is to bring home the state title. Not only that, but our goal is to play as one and not different individuals to get there.”

In their final game, the Lady Panthers dominated the Mountain View Lady Buffalo, putting up 52 points to Mountain View’s 28 points.