By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
With just one game remaining on the January calendar, the Southeast of Saline and Sacred Heart girl’s basketball teams will meet in Gypsum on Tuesday for a rematch of a 51-45 Lady Trojan victory earlier this season.
Both teams are still in the hunt for a league title, and need to win out to accomplish that, with Sacred Heart coming into this contest at 6-7 overall, while the Lady Trojans enter at 11-2.
Despite Southeast being undefeated and ranked as the #5 team in 3A last time around, the Lady Knights battled for 32 minutes, giving SES a bit of a scare down the stretch, but coming up short late as the Lady Trojans melted away the clock.
“We went toe to toe with Southeast in that first game but we gave up a bit of a run late and then got confused and let them run a stall on us in that game,” Sacred Heart head coach Carl Hines said. “They’re a tough out and they’re very well coached so we need to be a little bit better on the defensive end and close out on their shooters.”
Since that first meeting, both teams have settled in on both ends of the floor, with the Lady Trojans dropping just two total games, and the Lady Knights winning each of their last four.
“They’ve gotten more comfortable with each other and they’re a lot like us,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said. “They’re a guard-heavy team that’s going to shoot a lot from the outside and they’ve got some younger girls playing for them now so they have a lot of depth.”
For Sacred Heart, much of that success has come with a newfound poise, that has carried the Knights to wins in each of their last three league contests, including one over a very good Ellsworth team last week.
“Our confidence has grown since that first game and we’ve got some players who are really shooting the ball with that confidence,” Hines said. “Last year we didn’t really know who our second perimeter scorer was going to be but this year we have some help there and we’re comfortable offensively.”
Any time these two battle it out on the hardwood, pace of play becomes the name of the game, as the Lady Trojans like to get out and run in transition, and the Lady Knights like to play at an even faster pace.
“They want to play really fast but not as in control,” Smith said. “They tend to make you play pretty scrappy so we have to keep the tempo up but we have to play our game.”
To pull the upset and keep their hopes of winning the league alive, Sacred Heart must win the battle on the boards and keep Southeast from earning multiple attempts on their offensive possessions.
“Defensive rebounding and playing with pace will be our biggest keys to this game,” Hines said. “We have to be better against their drive and kick offense and we’re not going to stop all of the threes but long shots lead to long rebounds so we have to be good on the glass.”
On the other side of the matchup, to continue dominating this rivalry, it will be critical for the Lady Trojans to continue trending up on the offensive end, while finding ways on defense to limit the stellar play of junior Katie Weiss.
“We have to keep the Weiss girls in check and make her earn her points,” Smith said. “We don’t feel like we did a very good job of that the first time we played and the whole offense revolves around her so we have to be aware of where she’s at.”
Tip-off between the Lady Trojans and Knights is set for 6:00 at Southeast of Saline High School with the boy’s game to follow at 7:30.
Both games can be heard on KINA or streamed live with audio and video on the Salina Post.