By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The 8th-ranked Southeast of Saline girl's basketball team will open sub-state play on Monday when they host the Beloit Lady Trojans in a bonus edition of this year's Trojan War.
Southeast comes into this contest as the 2-seed in this year's bracket at 17-3 overall while Beloit limps in at 4-16.
Of those 17 victories for the Lady Trojans in purple, two came against this very Beloit outfit, with SES collecting wins of 59-29 back in December, and 52-35 back in early February.
There's little question that Southeast has been playing their best basketball down the stretch, having won nine of their last ten games, and posting four 50+ point performances in their final five.
Now, the Lady Trojans will look to put it all together in what they hope will culminate in yet another deep playoff push.
"The season really flew by," SES head coach Shauna Smith said. "It seems like we were just at this point last year and the girls are getting the energy that you need to play in the postseason."
In order to overcome a league foe for a third time, Southeast will need to dictate the pace early, and overcome Beloit's size advantage in the paint.
"We need to be in control and establish ourselves as shot-makers from the start," Smith said. "This is a familiar team but we can't overlook the things they do well. They have size and they hit the offensive glass well so we need to limit them to one shot per possession."
The winner of this game will advance to the bracket semifinals to square off with either 12-8 Hoisington or 11-9 Smoky Valley on Thursday.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the bracket, 2nd-ranked and 1-seeded Phillipsburg (20-0) will host Russell (2-18), with the winner moving on to face either Norton (12-9) or Ellsworth (11-9).
Tip-off between these two Lady Trojans' is set for 7:00 at the Purple Palace in Gypsum and as always, the game can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) or streamed live on the Salina Post courtesy of Bennington State Bank.
For continuing coverage of Lady Trojan hoops throughout the sub-state tournament stay tuned to the Salina Post.