By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
Tonight, one of the biggest rivalries in the NCAA takes center stage as Southeast of Saline travels to Salina for round two of their battles with Sacred Heart.
Girls Game: SE of Saline (9-3, 4-0) at Sacred Heart (7-6, 1-3)
With the exception of a brief stumble at Sterling, the Lady Trojans have been rolling, winning six of their last seven games and remaining the only team in the NCAA without a league loss in their ledger.
The last time these two met, Sacred Heart was able to muddy the waters and slow the Lady Trojans down, but fell in a low-scoring 35-25 affair.
“Defensively I liked the things that we did,” Lady Knight head coach Carl Hines said. “Usually if we hold someone to 35 points we'll be on the right side of it, but that wasn't the case down there in December.”
While Sacred Heart looks to once again slow the likes of Maddie Harris and Brielle Ptacek down, the Lady Trojans will be focused on improving their offense, coming off their only other win in which they were held to under 40 points.
“We need to continue to get better offensively,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said. “We’ve had too many slow quarters throughout the year and tonight we need to keep the pressure on. They have some good size on the inside and they always have kids who can score so you have to account for everyone on the floor.”
The girl’s game is set to begin at 6:00 on the campus of Sacred Heart High School.
Boys Game: #6 Sacred Heart (11-1, 3-1) vs. SE of Saline (6-6, 1-3)
On the boy’s side, it’s the Knights who have been the aggressors, bouncing back from their first and only loss at the hands of Beloit to throttle Hutch-Trinity and Republic County in their last two games.
While the pendulum of this highly-anticipated series swung purple in each of the last two years, Sacred Heart will be eager to sweep the Trojans for the first time since the 2020-21 campaign and continue cementing themselves among the upper echelon of Class 2A.
This is our rivalry game, It's fun, it's a great atmosphere, and our kids enjoy it,” Sacred Heart head coach Brian Gormley said. “We're expecting a hard-fought ballgame here, and I hope our kids continue to do the little things well because Southeast will push us and make sure we're on top of our game. You know you don't want to lose one at home to your rival.”
In order to stave off the sweep and get their first win over a ranked foe this year, Southeast will have to put together one of its best 32-minute efforts and get the Knight’s out of their comfort zone.
“We didn’t handle pressure very well in that first game and we handed them some points in transition,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “Offensively they share the ball so well and that allows them to get easy lanes to the basket, defensively they’re just really solid, they communicate well, they rebound well and they’re a tough matchup for a lot of teams.”
The boy’s game will follow the girls at approximately 7:30 this evening in Salina.
Broadcast Info
- Location: Sacred Heart High School
- Radio: KINA (910 AM/107.5 FM)
- SES Stream: Link Below
- SH Stream: Link Below