By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline girls basketball team kicked off the new year in style with a resounding 55-43 defeat of the 6-1 Minneapolis Lions.
With this win, the tenth-ranked Lady Trojans advance to 6-1 and sit atop the NCAA at 3-0 while Minneapolis falls to 6-2.
SES hadn’t played a game since December 20th, but the team picked up right where they left off, taking their first lead in the opening minutes and never looking back.
“We were a little worried after not playing on Tuesday or practicing yesterday but we got through the first few minutes and I didn’t think we looked very rusty or out of breath,” Trojan head coach Shauna Smith said.
Southeast was led by a pair of double-digit scorers with 14 from Maddie Harris and a career-high, team-leading 15 from Mallorie Pearson.
“Mallorie doesn’t get a lot of recognition sometimes but she’s always going to hound the best guard on the other team from one end of the floor to the other,” Smith said. “Her offensive game has really come a long way as well.”
Pearson’s defensive effort helped SES to generate 18 turnovers of Minneapolis, many of which were converted into transition baskets on the other end.
“I’m not really worried about our defense but our focus continues to be on the offense and early in this one, we came out and really scored,” she said. “We ran set plays really well and we got some transition buckets early to get us going.”
Once again, the Lady Trojans spread the wealth offensively, with eight different players in the scoring column.
“All eight of our kids are capable of scoring double digits,” Smith said. “If we can score in the upper 40s we really like our chances to win in any of these games.”
Defensively, SES allowed just one double-digit scorer in Cameron Cleveland, who led the Lady Lions with 10 points.
Southeast will be back in action next Tuesday when they return home to host Clay Center.
For a full replay of both of tonight’s Trojan victories, click HERE.