By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
On the heels of a Thursday sweep of Clay Center the Southeast of Saline basketball teams will look to close out the week with two more wins and finish their back-to-back out in style.
Girls Game: SE of Saline (8-3, 3-0) vs. Ellsworth (7-5, 1-2)
The Lady Trojans will look to carry the momentum of a win over the 8th-ranked Lady Tigers into tonight’s matchup, while the Lady Bearcats look to continue their two-game winning streak.
Southeast enters Friday night’s action still atop the NCAA standings as the only team without a league loss in their ledger.
“League is obviously important for us but our sub-state standing is more important than anything,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said. “With only three losses we’re still the 5-seed and because of that every game is even more important.”
To move to 4-0 in league play and make up some ground on their sub-state, the Lady Trojans will need another defensive effort like the one that limited Clay Center to four points in the second quarter on Thursday.
“Ellsworth plays about ten deep and they’ll come at you in waves,” Smith said. “We’ll need to sit down and play solid defense for another 32 minutes, they have kids that can score and they’re not afraid to shoot.”
Tip-off between the Lady Trojans and Bearcats is set for 6:00 at Ellsworth High School.
Boys Game: SE of Saline (6-5, 1-2) vs. Ellsworth (11-1, 2-1)
The Trojans will also have some positive momentum to build off of after a 25-point shelling of Clay Center on Friday, but will have a tall task against a Bearcat squad with just one loss on the season.
Ellsworth currently sits in a tie for second with Sacred Heart while SES has an opportunity to even their league ledger and draw even with the Bearcats with a win tonight. Despite all that, the Trojan focus remains firmly on the bigger goal of their campaign.
“League is a great thing to compete for but the ultimate goal isn’t to win a league title, it’s to win a sub-state and get a ticket to compete in a state tournament,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “There’s an outside shot that we could compete for that this year but it’s more important to us that we prepare ourselves for sub-state.”
To take a step toward either goal, the Trojans will need to become just the second team all season to take down the Bearcats, which will require finding an answer for senior sensation Will Cravens.
“Cravens is really good,” Flax said. “He was fairly athletic last year but he took a huge jump in athleticism over the summer. He’s playing above the rim, he gets to good spots and everything runs through him. Stone is a pretty good player who can score in the post, we’ll have to keep him off the glass and the rest of their guys understand their roles.”
The boy’s game will follow the girls’ at approximately 7:30 this evening.
Broadcast information
- Radio: KINA (910 AM/107.5 FM)
- Stream: Link below