By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After a back-and-forth battle that felt like a heavyweight bought, the Southeast of Saline girls basketball team fell in their first loss since January 21st as the Goodland Cowgirls landed the final blow.
The Lady Trojans struck first, flying out of the gates on a 7-0 run and took a 13-5 lead into the second quarter, but Goodland promptly erased that with a run of their own to pull within one at the half.
SES would make another surge in the third quarter thanks in large part to Karsyn Schlesener to take a 35-24 lead into the fourth, but Goodland tightened the clamps and held Southeast without a single field goal throughout the final quarter, taking the lead in the final minutes and never letting go.
The Lady Trojan's spectacular season comes to an end at 20-4, and will go down in history as just the second 20-win campaign in school history and the first since 1990.
“I am super proud of our girls because we definitely got to where we thought we could as a team,” Southeast head coach Shauna Smith said. “Obviously we would have liked to win tonight but I couldn’t have asked the girls to play defense any better.”
SES talked about taking the next step this season and all year long, they did just that.
The Lady Trojans swept the NCAA to claim a second-straight undefeated league title, and extend their winning streak against league opponents to an unheard of 27 games stretching back to 2019-20.
Karsyn Schlesener rocketed up the all-time scoring list in Southeast of Saline history, finishing her stellar career in third place with 1,248 career points.
SES defeated the then-#1 ranked Hugoton Eagles in overtime of the Sterling tournament, then turned around and took a #1 Sterling team that finished undefeated in Class 2A to overtime the following night.
The team dominated in the first two rounds of sub-state, showed incredible resilience to stave off Riley County in the Championship game, and punched the team's first ticket to Hutch since 2015-16.
The Lady Trojans did all of this work thanks in large part to the leadership of three seniors in Karsyn Schlesener, Mallorie Pearson, and Alaina Yianakopulos, who leave a lasting imprint on this program that goes far beyond their contributions on the floor.
“These three have been a big part of who we are,” Smith said. “They understood roles and played extremely hard. They are going to be missed but hopefully, the younger girls have learned a lot from these three because they are great leaders.”
The rest of the Trojan’s 10-man rotation will need to step up to big next season, but after seeing the development of one of the deepest rosters in Class 3A this year, Trojan fans can rest easy knowing that the team is in good hands.
“My younger girls have really made strides this season and stepped up when we needed them to,” Smith said. “They have big shoes to fill but I know they will fill them. I’m already looking forward to next season with them.”