By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After a brief stumble last week, the Southeast of Saline girl's basketball team, still ranked #5 in Class 3A, got back in the win column with a convincing 45-28 victory on the road in Clay Center.
With this win, the Lady Trojans advance to 7-1 on the season, while the Lady Tigers fall to 4-4.
Following a rough outing on the glass last Friday, Southeast looked much better this time around, despite facing more size in the Clay Center lineup.
“I thought we all did a good job of rebounding tonight,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said. “Overall we looked to box people out and we did a really good job of that.”
It was clear that the Lady Trojans wanted to make a statement early, as Southeast exploded out of the gates on an 8-0 run, holding a 20-point lead in the second quarter and never looking back.
In the second half, SES continued playing their unselfish brand of basketball en route to their seventh win of the season, further strengthening their position ahead of the Sterling Tournament next week.
“We’ve talked about sharing the ball,” Smith said. “That’s something we didn’t do last Friday. They pressed us but we took time to prepare for that and I thought we did a good job with it.”
Lexi Jacobson led the way for the Lady Trojans, tying her career-high with a 15-point performance, and joining Reagan Goetz, who scored 11, in double figures.
Hailee Bent was the only Tiger to crack double digits in the loss as Clay Center failed to bounce SES for a third straight season.
With the rest of the week to recover, Southeast will turn their attention to a trip to the Sterling Tournament next week, where the Lady Trojans will open bracket play with an abnormal 8-seed in the hosts.
“We’ll have to prepare for Sterling,” Smith said. “That 1-6 record is deceiving. They got one of their best players back. Every game at Sterling is going to be a fight and we’ll have to be prepared.”