Nov 29, 2021

2021-22 Hoops Preview: SES Girls

Posted Nov 29, 2021 8:52 PM

By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor

This SES hoops preview is presented by Salina Ortho: Quality orthopedic care when you need it!
This SES hoops preview is presented by Salina Ortho: Quality orthopedic care when you need it!

The Southeast of Saline girls basketball team will look to run it back in 2021-22 after a successful 15-7 campaign a year ago.

The Lady Trojans will once again be under the direction of head coach Shauna Smith, who enters her sixth year at the helm for SES.

Southeast accomplished that fifteen-win season without the help of a single senior, and returns all of that talent, including the same starting five this year.

When the Trojans take the floor for their season opener, their lineup should look familiar to SES fans.

Karsyn Schlesener (Sr)
Alaina Yianakopulos (Sr)
Mallorie Pearson (Sr)
Avery Caselman (Jr)
Maddie Harris (So)

Southeast will also look for more big minutes off the bench from Brielle Ptacek, Lexi Jacobson and Reagan Goetz.

Ahead of the 2021 tip-off, we had a chance to catch up with Coach Smith to ask her a few questions about this years squad.

Q: What were your overall thoughts on last year’s 15-7 season?

A: “After last season we know that we have a lot more experience coming into this year and we feel like our next step is in beating the good teams, not just playing them close.”

Q: What would you say is the biggest strength of this years team?

A: “Our strength lies in our veterans. It feels like we picked up where we left off in that sense and we’ve already put in some things that we usually wouldn’t this early on but these girls have been in our system for four years now and most of our seniors saw playing time as freshmen for us.”

Q: What are the biggest question marks that you guys still have coming into the new year?

A: “We still have no size and we’re not going to get any bigger throughout the year so we’re going to have to rebound our little hearts out. We’ll have to help on the glass and it’ll really have to be a team effort.”

Q: What are the expectations and goals for this team this season?

A: “We want to get to a sub-state final. We’ve gotten to the second round these last few years but we really want to beat somebody and we need to start beating some of the Clay Centers and Hesstons when we get those opportunities.”

Q: After a season with no seniors how great is it to finally have true senior experience this year?

A: “We have six freshmen and I keep telling them that they have some great leaders ahead of them. Our seniors play hard and they do a great job of leading. If we get beat it’s never going to be because we didn’t play hard enough.”

Southeast will tip-off their season on Friday when they travel to Hesston to face the same Swather team that knocked them out of sub-state last year.

For more on Trojan hoops, stay tuned to the Salina Post.