By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Southeast of Saline basketball teams opened their back-to-back in fine fashion, completing a clean sweep of Clay Center on their home floor this Thursday.
Girls Game: SE of Saline 46, #8 Clay Center 42
With their backs to the wall against yet another ranked foe, the Lady Trojans went to work on Thursday night and prevailed behind another strong defensive performance.
This win was a special one for all in attendance, as Southeast honored head coach Shauna Smith after the game, who collected her 100th win with the purple and white.
“I didn’t see this coming,” Smith said. “It wasn’t really on my radar but it’s special. I’ve gotten close with this group and these seniors and it was great to do it with those three.”
One of those seniors helped lead the way for the Lady Trojans as Brielle Ptacek contributed 13 points, but it was Aba Pearson who stole the show, posting a new career high with 16.
Despite the strong offensive output, Southeast shined the brightest on defense, where the Lady Trojans held Clay Center to just four points in the second quarter to pull away.
“I thought we did a really good job defensively all night,” Smith said. They countered some things in the second half but I thought defensively we were really tough and we needed that after the Sterling Tournament.”
The Lady Trojans will be back in action on Friday night when they travel to Ellsworth at 6:00
Boys Game: SE of Saline 60, Clay Center 35
While the girl’s game saw some late drama, the boy’s game was never in doubt, as the Trojans put a 25-point drubbing on Clay Center.
Defensively, this was Southeast’s masterpiece, as the Trojans held the Tigers to just eight made field goals for the full 32-minute game.
“When we really trust that we’re going to be in the right spots defensively, when we fly around and when we dominate the glass like we did tonight we’re pretty good defensively,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “We bailed them out a little bit sending them to the line but if it weren’t for free throws we would have been in even better shape.”
Offensively, the Trojans were led by Owen Bailey who knocked down six threes and finished with 24 points, assisted by a 12-point performance from Gannon Jacobson.
“It was good to see Owen hit some shots,” Flax said. “He went through a rough spurt but it was great to see him back like that. He was moving well and you find yourself open more when you move as fast as he did tonight.”
With this win, the Trojans move to 6-5 overall, and will get back to league play on Friday when they take on Ellsworth on the road.