The true test of character, they say, is not so much how you respond to prosperity, but how you respond to adversity.

And when you are a newly re-activated program thrust into the middle of some of the best small town basketball in the state, there will no doubt be plenty of tests of character.

So it goes for the Alberton Panthers in their first foray into the 2022-23 Montana high school basketball season.

Both boys and girls teams were entered in the non-conference Hamilton Tip-off tournament, a chance to play someone other than the teammates against whom you practice each day and see what needs improving and what is coming along the way you hoped.

Sometimes that goes relatively smoothly and sometimes it doesn’t.

So this past Friday evening , when the boy Panthers took to the court for their first varsity game in several years, expectations were not off the scale.

After one quarter of play, the Panthers were behind only 14-7 in a game they would eventually lose 59-47. The following Saturday afternoon, their second game of the tourney was scheduled against traditional basketball power Drummond, and the result was much the same as they fell 78-27.

No doubt not the start for which they were hoping, but a measuring stick none-the-less.

The girls team did not fare any better, dropping their opener Friday evening to the Lady Pirates from Victor 64-5, then losing 53-3 the next day to girls regional power Drummond 53-3.

That’s 11 points better than the loss they had the day before.

And for those glass half full people, there’s only one way to go...up!