By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
Southeast of Saline and Sacred Heart closed out the second leg of their rivalry matchups on Tuesday, with Southeast’s Lady Trojans holding on to win 50-43, and Sacred Heart’s Knights holding off the Trojans 54-34
Girls: Sacred Heart 43, SE of Saline 50
The Lady Trojans found themselves locked in a good battle at halftime, after leading by six at the end of the first but finding themselves down by two at the intermission.
Sacred Heart stuck around in the third quarter, trailing by just a point going into the fourth, but SES was able to pull away down the stretch at the free throw line in what would go down as a 50-43 win.
Southeast was led by a furious career-high night by Kyiah Samuelson, who scored 21 points, including seven big ones in the fourth quarter, and Aba Pearson, who finished her evening with 10.
On the other side of the matchup Skylar Douglas was the only Lady Knight in double figures, closing out the contest with 12.
With this result the Lady Trojans improve to 12-4 overall and 7-1 in league play while Sacred Heart slides to 6-7 and 3-4 respectively.
Boys: Sacred Heart 54, SE of Saline 43
On the boy’s side, Southeast of Saline had the #2 team in Class 2A on the ropes for a half, but the Knights made good adjustments in the second half and were able to pull away for a 54-43 win.
SES locked down Sacred Heart with good defense early, leading by one at the end of the first and trailing by just one at the intermission.
From there, Will Tuttle and Noah Hines got rolling and the Knights tightened the screws defensively, allowing just two third-quarter field goals and outscoring SES 34-16 the rest of the way.
Tuttle and Hines would each contribute 19 points in the win on a night where just five members of the Sacred Heart offense needed to score.
On the other side of the matchup, Gannon Jacobson equaled that pair scoring 19 points of his own, but was the only Trojan with more than 6 points on the evening.
With this result, Sacred Heart remains undefeated at 13-0 and 7-0 in league play, while SES falls to 8-8 and 5-3, respectively.
The Knights are back in action on Thursday when they take on TMP while the Trojans will have the rest of the week off before squaring off with Beloit next Tuesday.