By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After handling Hesston in their season opener the Southeast of Saline girls’ basketball team looked to overcome a hurdle that they had stumbled on before in the form of the Smoky Valley Vikings.
Both teams battled for 32 grueling minutes but a late 4-0 run allowed the Lady Trojans to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat as 9th-ranked Southeast held on for a thrilling 48-46 victory.
“These girls know how to get down and play hard and when we need a big stop or a big rebound they know how to do those things,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight but when the game was on the line in the last two minutes we did what we needed to.”
Smoky Valley took a four-point advantage into the second quarter which the Lady Trojans promptly erased with a big 15-1 run to start the frame.
Much of that success came in the form of transition offense as SES turned the Vikings over 12 times in the first half alone.
Smoky Valley would battle back out of the intermission to tie the game and with 3:00 left to go Tinley Scott knocked down a monster three to put the Vikings up by two.
Unfortunately for Smoky Valley, those would be the last points that they could muster as a second-chance bucket for Abigail Pearson tied the game at 46.
In the final minute, the Lady Vikings turned the ball over again on a traveling violation and SES made them pay as Reagan Goetz laid in the go-ahead game-winner with under 30 seconds to play.
This matchup was one that Southeast had circled on the calendar, and with this victory tonight, the Lady Trojans avenged one of just four losses from the 2021-22 campaign.
“We talked a lot about this game because we hadn’t beaten Smoky Valley since the Sterling Tournament in 2020,” Smith said. “That had been in our minds for months and this was a game that we really wanted to win.”
In addition to the game-winning bucket, Reagan Goetz led SES in scoring with 13 points, followed closely by Maddie Harris with 12 and Brielle Ptacek and Lexi Jacobson with 8.
The Lady Trojans were also able to win the battle on the glass while playing their brand of stifling defense throughout.
“I thought we did a better job of rebounding and kept people in front of us well,” she said. “They hit four threes in the first half but we contested them and kept them in front.”
Southeast will kick off league play next with a road trip to Beloit on Friday, looking to keep their stranglehold on the NCAA.
“Beloit has been a young team but now they’re junior-heavy,” Smith said. “They’re very well coached, this definitely isn’t going to be a blowout and we’re going to have to run some offense and guard well.”
For continuing coverage of Lady Trojan hoops, stay tuned to the Salina Post.