By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
Southeast of Saline and Abilene battled to a split on the hardwood in Gypsum on Tuesday, with the Lady Trojans taking the girls’ game, and the Cowboys taking the boys’ game.
Girls: SE of Saline 55, Abilene 48
In an early-season battle of 2-0 teams, the Lady Trojans survived a late Cowgirl surge, holding on for a 55-48 victory.
It was all SES in the early goings of this game, as Southeast held leads of 15-6 after one, and 28-15 at the half.
In the third quarter, the Cowgirls knocked down seven shots, including four big ones from Tessa Herrman, to trim the lead down to single digits.
Abilene managed to outscore Southeast in the fourth quarter but it was too little too late as the Lady Trojans held on to remain undefeated on the year.
Herrman led the Cowgirls in the losing effort with 22 points.
For Southeast, Reese Heinrich set a new career high, scoring 21 in the win, aided by a 12-point evening from Kyiah Samuelson.
With this win, the Lady Trojans roll to 3-0 while Abilene takes it’s first loss and falls to 2-1.
Boys: Abilene 64, SE of Saline 56
As they have in every game so far the Trojans gave it all they had on Tuesday, but ran out of gas in the fourth quarter as Abilene pulled away for victory.
This game stayed close for three full quarters, with Abilene leading by just two after one, four at half, and one at the end of the third quarter.
The third quarter was undoubtedly Southeast’s best, with four different Trojans accounting for 21 points.
Unfortunately for the Trojans, Kolt Becker poured on the points in the second half, scoring 16 of his team-leading 28 points in the third and fourth quarters alone.
The well ran dry for SES in the fourth, and the Cowboys stretched the lead to win 64-56.
Levi Evans (16) aided Becker (28) in the Abilene win while Adam Thiel recorded a new career-high in the loss, scoring 26 of Southeast’s 56 points.
With this win, Abilene improves to 2-1 while Southeast slides to 0-3.
The Trojans will be back in action on Friday when they travel to Beloit. Abilene will return home on Friday to host Augusta.
You can watch both games on-demand below.