By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After starting their seasons on drastically different runs, the Southeast of Saline and Abilene girls’ basketball teams will meet in Gypsum tonight for an area showdown at 6:00.
The Lady Trojans enter this contest ranked in Class 3A at 3-0 while the Cowgirls, still discovering their identity under first-year head coach Shawn Herrman, will be in search of their first win at o-3.
For Southeast, their most recent triumph came in the form of a road win over the other Lady Trojans, continuing an absurd run of 27-straight league victories.
“We outhustled Beloit to all the loose balls and really set the tempo early on,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said. “That was our goal, we wanted to get out and go and I thought we had a well-balanced offense.”
On the other side of the matchup, Abilene had been moving in the right direction but will have to continue that progress without one of their best options in the paint.
“Our defense really picked up game two and we did a lot of good things,” Herrman said. “In game three we lost our post player to a foot injury and we lost some of that energy.”
In addition to the injury, the Cowgirls will have to cope with a Southeast squad that has been deadly in the friendly confines of home, having lost just six games in Gypsum since the start of the 2019-20 season.
“We always have a good crowd that comes to our games and supports us so there’s definitely a home-court advantage for us,” Smith said. “It’s always fun to play in front of that.”
For Abilene, rhythm and tempo will be the names of the game, as the Cowgirls look to spread the ball around and utilize their spacing to find open lanes.
“We need to become more efficient offensively and get the ball moving around more,” Herrman said. “We have a tendency to stand around when things aren’t flowing.”
To remain undefeated at 4-0, SES will need to continue to stay aggressive on the offensive end of the floor and be less reliant on their sharpshooting from beyond the arc.
“We can’t settle at the three-point line because night in and night out that ball doesn’t always go in,” Smith said. “We need to attack the paint, they’re long and rangy so we need to get to the rim. We also have to set the tempo of the game and play the way we want to play.”
The Cowgirls will also have to find a way to take care of the basketball and slow down the Trojan attack in transition, while ensuring SES doesn’t beat them from deep.
“They love to shoot the three-ball and they’re very aggressive on both ends of the floor,” Herrman said. “They are very good at getting out in transition and finding the open person. We have to guard the perimeter. Knowing that there is a chance for long rebounds, we have to rebound and win the 50/50 balls.”
Tip-off between the Lady Trojans and Cowgirls is set for 6 pm at Southeast of Saline high school with the boy's game to follow at 7:30.
As always, the game can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) or streamed live on the Salina Post with live audio and video.