By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
Defense won the day once again for the Southeast of Saline girls basketball team who turned over the Abilene Cowgirls 21 times en route to a 45-32 victory.
With this win, SES advances to 3-1 on the year while Abilene drops to 1-3.
Abilene hung around early in this game, keeping it tied at 7-7 at the end of the first quarter, but Southeast pulled away before the half and never looked back to win their second straight contest.
“Energy was one of our big keys to the game,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said. “We didn’t feel like we played with a ton of energy in our last few games and you’re not always going to be at your high point but we needed to pick it up and I think we did tonight.”
The Lady Trojans were led by a familiar duo of double-digit scorers as Karsyn Schlesener finished her night with 13 and Avery Caselman added 12 more.
Southeast did all of this without the services of Lexi Jacobson, but did get a big contribution off the bench from Chase Gilpin, who scored a few big buckets to keep Abilene at arm's length at the half.
“I thought Chase gave us some very valuable minutes,” Smith said. “She’s a good, athletic player who can really get the ball in the hole for us and it was good to see her step up.”
Abilene was led by Alice Bathurst, who wrapped up her evening with eight points. The SES defense once again prevented any one opponent to reach double digits.
Southeast will be back at it again on Friday when they return home to take on the 3-1 Hillsboro Trojans.
To watch tonight's game in its entirety, follow the link here to catch the archived broadcast courtesy of Eagle Radio and the Salina Post