By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Salina Central girl’s basketball team will close out their regular season on Friday evening when they host Haysville Campus for senior night.
The Lady Mustangs come into this contest looking to secure a .500 record at 9-10 while the Lady Colts enter still looking for their first win of the year at 0-19.
Central is coming out of a gauntlet down the home stretch of their season that saw them go 1-5 against some of the best in Class 5A.
While this six-game stretch was undoubtedly grueling, the Lady Mustangs have learned a number of valuable lessons in the process, and are significantly improved from the team that took the floor in early December.
“This group has grown in all areas,” Central head coach Chris Fear said. “We have made great strides in taking care of the basketball and have improved our understanding of what we need to do to win basketball games.”
Starting center Brynn O’Hara is the lone senior on this year’s Central roster, but her teammates will be eager to send her out in style in her final game at the Brickhouse tonight.
“Brynn has had an outstanding season,” Fear said. “This is the first year that she has played significant varsity minutes and center is not her natural position, but her willingness to do whatever it takes for the team to be successful has been perhaps the most important element to our team's success this season. She means a great deal to our team and we want to make sure that her last game at Central is special.”
In order to achieve that proper sendoff, the Lady Mustangs will look to take advantage of a Lady Colt squad that has struggled to put the ball in the hole this year, averaging just 18 points per game all season.
“Campus has struggled to score this season,” he said. “That’s been an area of concern for us as well. We need to make things difficult for them, not allow easy baskets, and keep them off of the free-throw line.”
Despite those offensive struggles, Central will need to remain vigilant, and focus on playing their best basketball when it matters most with sub-state looming less than a week away.
“[Campus] is physical,” Fear said. “They’re going to test our ability to rebound the basketball. I believe we’ll see a tremendous defensive effort tonight, we need to cause some turnovers and turn those into baskets for us.”
Tip-off between the Lady Stangs and Colts is set for 6:00 tonight at The Brickhouse on the campus of Salina Central, with the boys’ game to follow at 7:30.
For continuing coverage of both programs all postseason long stay tuned to the Salina Post.