By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline girls basketball team secured a share of the 2021-22 NCAA league title tonight with a hard-fought 42-33 victory over the Minneapolis Lady Lions.
With this win, SES extends their winning streak to six and their record to 14-3, remaining a perfect 8-0 in league play.
On the other side of things, this marks just the third league loss for Minneapolis who fall to 10-8 and 5-3 in NCAA play.
Like the first meeting between these two, gritty defensive play dominated the day with both teams scoring well beneath their season average.
“We knew that they were going to be physical with us but I thought the girls responded really well to all the grabbing and we got the job done when we needed to,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said.
After a full quarter of play, the two teams had combined for just four field goals, with SES holding a 5-4 advantage.
Minneapolis was able to keep things close, trailing by a single possession after the third quarter, but SES was able to get to the free-throw line down the stretch to put the game away.
Southeast was led in scoring by Karsyn Schlesener, whose 16-point performance was the only of double-digits on the night.
“Karsyn did a nice job of attacking the basket and she had some late baskets in the fourth quarter that looked pretty easy,” she said.
The Trojans played much more aggressively in the second half, turning the ball over more but getting to the cup and to the line as a result.
“We talked about attacking the baseline in the second half because they had some kids in foul trouble and we were a lot more patient with their help defense,” She said. “We had some silly turnovers tonight but we were able to knock down our shots late.”
SES will now turn their attention to an Ellinwood team that entered the evening 9-8 in what could be a track meet of a game.
“They’re going to play fast and furious and they like to get up and down the floor, so it should be a fun game,” Smith said. “I think as long as we don’t just sit on the three-point line we should be able to get to the basket as much as we want to.”
That game will take place on Monday at 6 pm as SES enters the final three-game stretch of their regular season.