By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
After dropping both of their games at Sacred Heart on Tuesday, the Southeast of Saline basketball teams bounced back in fine fashion, defending their home floor in a sweep of Chapman.
Girls Game: SE of Saline 44, Chapman 31
On the girl’s side, it was the Lady Trojan defense that once again allowed Southeast to take the early lead and pull away late, holding Chapman to just six first-quarter points.
With this win, the Lady Trojans improve to 10-4 on the year while the Lady Irish fall to 5-9.
Southeast also found their footing offensively as six different Lady Trojans entered the scoring column, led by Maddie Harris who finished with 15 points.
“I thought we did a good job of keeping our composure tonight,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said. “We played well defensively for a whole game but we needed to get our offense going and I thought we did a good job of that tonight.”
Chapman battled but struggled to handle the Southeast pressure as the Lady Irish turned the ball over 22 times.
The Lady Irish were led in scoring by Kiera Jones (12), Adelyn Kirkpatrick (8), and Elyssa Frieze (8).
Boys Game: SE of Saline 59, Chapman 44
Much like on the girl’s side, the Southeast boys jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, holding Chapman at arm's length for the majority of the game.
With the win, the Trojans improve to 7-7 while the Irish slide to the same mark.
Prior to their most recent defeat at the hands of Beloit, Chapman had scored 60 or more points in a six-game stretch, crossing the 70 threshold in four of those games.
Southeast held them to 44.
“I thought we did a really good job defensively,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “That started with having different bodies on Gruver to frustrate him and force him to rush some things. It was a good team defensive effort and you have to be happy when you hold a team with an offense like that to 44 points.”
15 turnovers proved to be too many for the Irish, who still got solid nights out of Weston Langvardt (13), Kelan Gruver (11), and CJ Holm (11).
Meanwhile, on the Southeast side, it was another Owen Bailey masterclass, with 21 points including seven free throws and without the aid of a single three.
Southeast of Saline will travel to Beloit to resume league play next Tuesday while Chapman returns home to host Wamego.