By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline girls basketball team picked up their 20th consecutive league victory in style, decimating rival Sacred Heart by a final score of 55-25.
In addition to 20 straight wins over the NCAA dating back to 2019, this moves the #8 Lady Trojans to 11-3 on the year and 6-0 in league play while the Knights fall to 6-7.
It was another dominant night for the SES defense, which forced 20 turnovers and allowed under 30 points for the second time this season.
Sacred Heart’s defense kept the Lady Knights in the game early on, but out of the half, Southeast exploded for an 18-2 run in the third quarter.
“It all came down to somebody making a bucket,” SES head coach Shauna Smith said. “We had all of the open looks that we wanted but we needed somebody to step up and off of our press we really got going and wore them down.”
The Lady Trojans were led tonight by Avery Caselman, who left her imprint on defense as well as adding a team-high 15 points.
“Avery is playing with a lot of confidence and since the break,” Smith said. “She’s been playing well and she can really let it fly.”
While Southeast was certainly at a size disadvantage tonight, Alaina Yianakopulos stepped up to mitigate the damage in the post, helping to hold the Knights six scorers to single digits.
“Alaina and Mallorie don’t get a lot of credit a lot of the time,” she said. “Alaina’s job is to guard one of their best post players. Tonight she did everything we asked her to do and she does a good job of boxing out in addition to sitting back and shooting.”
Yianakopulos finished her night with six points as one of seven Lady Trojans with five or more.
SES also found a way to hold Katie Weiss, who averages a team-high 13 points per game, to just five in tonight’s big win.
The road won’t get any easier after Friday’s non-league contest with Chapman, but with a few key wins, SES can all but secure another consecutive league title as they take on their next closest competitors in Beloit and Minneapolis.
“We have two teams coming up next week that is going to give us everything we want because we know each other so well,” Smith said.
The Lady Trojans will be back in action on Friday when they host the Chapman Fighting Irish at 6 pm.