By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After playing a full game less than 24 hours prior, the Southeast of Saline girl’s basketball team came up short on the road, dropping just their third game of the season in Ellsworth 42-33.
This loss snaps an eight-game winning streak for the Lady Trojans, bringing them to 16-3 overall, while the Lady Bearcats improve to 11-7.
Going into the final game of NCAA play next week, Southeast (7-2), Minneapolis (7-2), and Ellsworth (6-3) will all still be in the hunt for a league title, having all split with each other on the season already.
The fatigue of playing Ellinwood on Monday night was on full display early in this game, as the Lady Trojans found themselves down 13-5 after eight.
“After that first quarter I didn’t have a good feeling,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said. “We were only down by three at halftime so I thought we might be okay but we didn’t have anybody step up and make a shot around the rim all night. I don’t think we were poor defensively we just couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean tonight.”
After a 66-point outburst and their best offensive performance of the season, Southeast posted their lowest total of the year with just 32 points.
Only five players notched themselves in the scoring column, led by Avery Caselman (12) and Reagan Goetz (11).
“We’ll fine-tune some things offensively,” Smith said. “We only went halfway when we screened and we were exhausted with everything going on but we have to play through that tiredness and we have to get some things from our bench. Just five kids isn’t going to get it done.”
With a front-loaded week, SES will have the rest of the week off before their regular season finale next Tuesday, when the Lady Trojans host Republic County.
After that, it will be another week-long wait until the beginning of this year’s sub-state tournament, which will see the Lady Trojans go toe-to-toe with some of the best in the state.
“We’re taking a day off to recover and our season isn’t over after this but after next week that’s how it’s going to be. Our sub-state is loaded, there aren’t any gimme games there.”