By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline girls basketball team is off to a hot 3-1 start and will have an opportunity to continue building their December resume when they welcome in the #6 Hillsboro Trojans on Friday night.
Hillsboro enters this game at 4-1, their lone loss coming at the hands of #1 Sterling, while SES enters fresh off a 45-32 win over a 4A foe in the Abilene Cowgirls.
“I felt like the score was closer than what the game felt,” Southeast head coach Shauna Smith said. “I never really felt threatened. They’re a much-improved team from last year but we did a really good job defensively.”
After returning 100% of their scoring from a season ago, Southeast of Saline picked up right where they left off, and remain unpredictable with capable scorers throughout the lineup.
“Karsyn has had her usual points but we’ve done a good job of spreading the scoring around and that’s been a big key for us,” Smith said. “We thought coming into the season that we would have different players scoring big for us on different nights.”
SES will need every single one of those players on their game against a Hillsboro defense that since falling in their season opener to Sterling, has held their opponents to under 30 points per game on average.
“We know they’re going to be physical,” Smith said. “They play in a very physical league. They’re not going to let any loose balls go unplayed and we have to be ready to fight for everything.”
Hillsboro has been good on the offensive side of the ball as well, averaging just shy of 55 points per game thanks to a fast-paced offense that exists on the edge of out of control at times.
“They have some size which could hurt us a bit and they’re going to play an up-tempo game,” she said. “There’s a difference between up-tempo and way too fast and we want to make sure that we play under control.”
While the SES defense has been tried time and time again, it will once again come down to whether the Trojans can keep up on the board and continue spreading out the offense.
“We still need to score more,” Smith said. “We’re averaging around 50 shots a game and we have to keep that up and our turnovers down but we still need some more scoring.”
Tip-off between SES and Hillsboro is set for 6 pm at Southeast of Saline High School with the boy’s game to follow.
As always the game can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) courtesy of Eagle Radio.