By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline girls basketball team will travel to Salina today looking to win their 20th consecutive league game dating back to 2019 as they prepare to take on the Sacred Heart Knights.
Sacred Heart kept the first meeting close but conceded a late run to allow SES to put the game away 51-33.
“I thought we battled but we went back to some old habits late in the game and it went from an 8-10 point game to 10-20 in a few minutes,” first-year Knights head coach Carl Hines said. “We have to limit what they can do in transition and be stronger on the glass.”
Since that first meeting, both teams have gained valuable experience, with SES coming in at 10-3 and Sacred Heart entering at 5-7.
The Knights offense still runs through Katie Weiss, the only player on the team averaging double-digits with 13.7 points per game, but in recent contests more and more players have found ways to get involved.
“We’re a lot more confident on the offensive end,” Hines said. “We have some girls that are finally starting to see some shots fall and that’s huge because we’ve struggled with that all year. We trust them to put the ball in the basket and we’ve grown in our basketball IQ.”
Weiss will remain the focal point of Southeast’s defense, as the nine-deep guard-centric Trojans look to limit the production of the larger post.
“We can’t let her get off to a good start and get that confidence rolling early,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said. “We have to find ways to wear them down like we did in that first contest.”
Defending larger players in the paint is one of the many skills that Southeast has improved upon over the course of the last month, and one they’ll have a chance to be tested on tonight.
“I think we’re doing a better job of recognizing what we need to do to play against size,” Smith said. “We know we’re going to continue battling bigger players and I thought we did a really good job of handling that in Sterling.”
SES has also improved on offense where the team has averaged over 50 points per game since the break.
“They’re running their offense with a lot more authority and those girls have a lot more confidence than they had the last time we played them,” Hines said. “They’re continuing to grow and they’re a special group right now, it’ll be a tall task for us tonight, to say the least.”
Tip-off between the Lady Trojans and Knights is set for 6 pm in Salina with the boy’s game to follow at 7 pm.
As always both games can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) or streamed live on the Salina Post.