By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
Southeast of Saline’s Lady Trojans will open sub-state play on Tuesday night when SES makes the trip to Osage City to battle the 4-seed in the Lady Indians.
Despite posting an impressive record of 15-5, Southeast drew the short straw in sub-state assignments, slotting in as the 5-seed in a bracket that features six different 14+ win teams.
“In a bracket like this if you have one bad shooting night you’re probably not moving on,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said. But that’s okay, we’ll have to play three tough nights in order to move on but it is what it is.”
First up for the Lady Trojans is an Osage City squad that boasts an impressive resume of their own, entering postseason play at 16-4.
The Lady Indians have been led in scoring this season by Emory Speece, a speedy point guard who runs the offense, and the interior duo of Campbell Stark and Lexi Boss, who combine for 15 points and 14 rebounds a night.
“Osage City can score the ball well,” Smith said. “They have a 6-1 kid inside who can cause us some problems and they have a very aggressive point guard who can turn the corner on you so we need to keep her in front of us and control the pace of the game.”
Throughout the course of the season, Southeast’s offense has come alive, and played well down the stretch as the Lady Trojans won each of their final five contests. Tonight, SES will need that same level of intensity throughout their lineup to survive Osage City and earn a ticket back home.
“We’re attacking the basket a lot better and not relying as much on the perimeter as we used to,” Smith said. “We also mix up our scoring a lot more and everybody is chipping in. Our defense travels with us but we have to set the tempo of the game and not allow them to do that.”
The winner of this game will advance to the semifinals in Gypsum to face either Halstead (17-3) or Council Grove (3-17)
Tip-off between the Lady Trojans and Indians is scheduled for 6:oo on Tuesday night at Osage City High School.
Broadcast Information
- Radio: KINA (910 AM/107.5 FM)
- Video: Salina Post (link below)