By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline girl’s basketball team closed out their regular season with a bang on Tuesday, knocking off Republic County 59-23 to secure a share of a third-straight league title.
With this win, the Lady Trojans conclude their campaign at 17-3 and will enter sub-state as the two-seed, ranked as the #8 team in Class 3A while the Lady Buffs wrap up their season at 0-20.
Despite not having played in over a week, Southeast wasted no time jumping on the Buffaloes, and led the way 20-5 at the end of the first quarter.
“We knew we needed to get out and play today because we weren’t going to play again for six days and we don’t want to be flat,” SES head coach Shayna Smith said. “I thought we put the foot on the gas pedal and aside from one small lapse we did what we needed to do to get the job done.”
Aside from a small slip against Ellsworth, the Lady Trojans saved their best basketball for last, scoring 50 or more in four of their last five games, while holding those opponents under 40.
That offensive efficiency was on full display again in the season finale as eight different scorers notched at least a point, led by Reagan Goetz (15), Brielle Ptacek (15), and Avery Caselman (11).
Defensively, SES looked just as good, forcing 28 turnovers while surrendering just nine themselves, and scoring at will in transition.
Now, with the regular season in the rearview, Southeast will begin preparing for their playoff push, with sub-state looming less than a week in the distance.
“We’ve already started working on things for sub-state,” Smith said. “We’ve gone through our sets and plays and we’ve done things to make us more crisp at those things. We know defensively that we’re where we need to be but offensively there are still some things that we need to do better.”
The first test for the Lady Trojans will be a third matchup with Beloit in a bonus round of the Trojan War, with the winner advancing to the sub-state semis to face either Hoisington or Smoky Valley.
For continuing coverage of SES hoops throughout the postseason, stay tuned to the Salina Post.