By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Southeast of Saline basketball teams continued their strong run of recent form with another sweep on Tuesday, as the girls' team decimated Lyons, while the boys snuck past the Lions in overtime.
Girls: SE of Saline 74, Lyons 22
The opener of this two-game set was never close, as the Lady Trojans took a commanding 27-6 lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back.
This was a total team effort, as six different Southeast scorers contributed two or more points in the first quarter alone, and eleven different Lady Trojans finished the night in the score column.
A staggering 28 turnovers helped SES turn defense into offense, building their lead to 35 at halftime, and 52 at the end of the third quarter, before putting the finishing touches on a 74-22 victory.
By virtue of sharing the ball, no one performance truly stood out despite the high watermark in points, as Southeast’s leading scorers on the night were Taryn Goetz (12), Kyiah Samuelson (10), and Suttyn Douglas (10).
On the other side, no one Lady Lion scored more than six points in this game, and only five players were able to notch any scoring at all.
With this dominant result, the Lady Trojans improve to 7-3 overall and 3-2 in league play, while Lyons falls to 1-9 and 0-5 respectively.
Boys: SE of Saline 60, Lyons 58 (OT)
The boys' game saw large back-and-forth swings early, and a tightrope act down the stretch, leading to a fun overtime battle between league foes.
Southeast seemed to have things in hand after the first quarter, holding a 17-8 lead, but one that was quickly dashed by Lyons, who outscored the Trojans by three in the second quarter, and five in the third, cutting the deficit to one after three.
The fourth quarter went back and forth and it soon became clear that 32 minutes would not be enough to decide the game as the score sat at 51-51 ahead of overtime.
A fierce battle between Tiernan Ptacek and Paco Espinoza continued in the bonus frame, but with help from Hendrix Lund the Trojans were able to create separation and secure a 60-58 victory in OT.
In addition to overtime heroics, Ptacek posted a new career high, scoring 27 points as the only Trojan in double digits on the night.
That pace was matched by Espinoza, who dropped 27 alongside Detrell Stanley (12) for Lyons in the loss.
Southeast of Saline is picking up steam, having won back-to-back games, and now sits at 3-7 overall and 2-3 in league play.
Lyons falls to 4-6 overall and 1-4 in the NCAA.
You can watch both games on demand below.