By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Southeast of Saline Lady Trojans battled to the end of a game that had a real college feel to it on Tuesday, but couldn’t overcome a hot-shooting Osage City team, dropping their quarterfinal matchup 62-53.
For SES, the season draws to a close at 15-6, and while bittersweet, caps off yet another impressive year for the Lady Trojans, who have now won 15 or more games in each of their last five campaigns, emerging with at least a share of the league title in each of the last four.
Osage City, still the 4-seed in this year’s bracket, moves to 17-4 and will play Halstead (18-3) in the semifinal on Friday.
The Lady Indians came flying out of the gates, knocking down five three-pointers in the first quarter alone to take a 22-8 lead.
Behind a 13-point quarter from Maddie Harris, Southeast clawed some of that ground back, trailing by just nine at the half, and by just six points going into the fourth quarter.
SES began to heat up from beyond the arc, knocking down five threes of their own in the second half, including three in the fourth quarter, and tightened the screws on Osage defensively.
On three separate occasions, the Lady Trojans were able to make it a one-possession game, but the comeback effort ran out of steam in the closing minutes as Osage City pulled away at the line.
Harris would lead all scorers with 20 points, but Lexi Boss (17), Emory Speece (15), and Sadie Shoemaker (10) did just enough to allow the Lady Indians to eke out the win.
This game also marked the end of the road for Southeast’s three seniors, Maddie Harris, Lexi Jacobson, and Brielle Ptacek, who have each left their mark on this program both on and off the floor.