By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
On the heels of another fantastic 19-4 campaign, the Southeast of Saline girl’s basketball team will look to reload and run it back ahead of what should be another strong season.
8th-year head coach Shauna Smith reprises her role as leader of the Lady Trojans for the upcoming 2023-24 slate.
Despite graduating several key players a year ago, this year’s Southeast squad returns three senior starters to build around, with a starting lineup that should look like this come Friday.
G- Maddie Harris (Sr)
G- Brielle Ptacek (Sr)
F- Lexi Jacobson (Sr)
F- Adyson Rohr (Jr)
F- Abigail Pearson (So)
The Lady Trojans will also look for big minutes off the bench out of junior Sarah Feldman and sophomore Suttyn Douglas.
Ahead of the 2023-24 campaign, we had a chance to catch up with Coach Smith and get her thoughts on this year’s squad.
Q: When you had a chance to look back on it, what were your overall thoughts on last season?
A: I knew we would be in a sub-state championship game but our league continues to get stronger and stronger and I thought going 19-4 was a big accomplishment for us.
Q: Entering this year, what would you say are the biggest known strengths of your team?
A: We have three senior starters returning who have been playing for four years and they know what the expectations are. I think that can take you a long way and they know how to win.
Q: What are the biggest looming questions or challenges that you’ll look to sort out in these first few weeks?
A: Our size will be a question mark but we’ve battled that for years. Depth could also be a problem for us.
Q: What are the biggest goals and expectations for this group heading into the new season?
A: The entire school at SES has developed a culture that league titles and state tournament berths are the expectation. I feel that the work our program puts in during the offseason, in both the classroom and the weight room, as well as during the season has kept these expectations in the forefront for this year’s team.
The Lady Trojans open their season in Hesston with a road game against the Swathers this Friday.