By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After a stellar Sterling Invitational in which the Southeast of Saline girl’s basketball team took down the #1 team in Class 3A, the Lady Trojans will return home and focus their attention on a league-heavy February slate.
SES is in the midst of one of the most dominant runs in NCAA history, winning 17 consecutive games against the league dating back to February of 2020.
Entering the final month of the regular season, Southeast sits atop the NCAA at 3-0, with seven remaining games against Beloit, Minneapolis, Sacred Heart, Ellsworth, and Republic County.
The first of those contests will come on Tuesday night as SES welcomes in the Lady Buffs from Belleville.
Republic County has struggled mightily this season, coming into at 0-11 and 0-4 in league play, but despite a poor record SES remains focused on the task at hand.
“We’re going to come out and treat this like any other game,” Trojan head coach Shauna Smith said. “We want to continue our energy and our scoring from a good tournament week and make sure we get off to a good start.”
After staggering out of the gate, the Southeast offense has exploded in recent weeks, averaging 50 or more points in four of their last six games.
“We have to continue to score,” Smith said. “That part of our game can’t let up. We have to stay in the upper 50s so that by the end of the season we’re already where we want to be.”
Part of that recent offensive success can be attributed to better movement away from the basketball, something SES continues to build on as the season progresses.
“Our movement on offense has been a lot better than it was at the beginning of the year,” she said. “We’re not standing around and watching one person try to develop a play anymore and we have to continue to constantly move on offense.”
While Republic County has been outscored by 32 points per game on average this season, crazier things have happened in league play, and the Lady Trojans will have to stay on high alert to advance to 9-3.
“Their coach always has his girls playing hard,” Smith said. “They’re going to be well prepared and we know they’re not going to lay down for us.”
Tip-off between the SES and Republic County is set for 6 pm in Gypsum with the boy’s game to follow at 7.
As always, both games can be heard live on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) or streamed live on the Salina Post.