NEWS RELEASE:

The Southeast Lancers High School Basketball Teams are preparing to open their season at home against Oswego on Friday night.  The coach of the Boys teams says their slogan this season is “Dirty Tough”.

“That’s for the kids to keep in mind that we’re going to take charges, we’re going to get on the floor to get loose balls, if we need to be we’ll go into the stands to save balls, we’ll do all of the little stuff that goes unnoticed to help the team win,” said Southeast Boys Basketball Coach Steve Taylor.  “We have a team that will play hard, we will play defense and take care of the little things – a lot of things that go unnoticed during the game.  I’m excited for this season and I expect some good things for all of us.”

On the Girls side, Southeast Coach Derek Sanders said with four games in eight days, two games being against ranked opponents, the will learn about their team quickly.

“We’re going to have to hang our hat on defense,” said Coach Sanders.  “We’ve got some experience coming back but we’ve got so many people that are in new roles, new responsibilities this year.  I think we’re going to have an advantage inside compared to almost everybody we play this year.  We’re going to guard and we’re going to try to be patient offensively and defensively and make it tough for the other teams to score.”

Friday’s games against Oswego will be at Southeast High School.  The Junior Varsity Boys are scheduled to play in the West Gym at 6 p.m.  The Varsity Girls will play in the East Gym at 6 p.m. and the Varsity Boys will play once that game is finished.

Both squads will have a couple of faces that are not only new to the team, but to the country.  Three foreign exchange students at Southeast are trying out basketball even though they have never played the sport before.  Trym Holmstrand of Norway is playing for the Boys.  Sofia Aparicio of Spain and Katharina Jens of Germany is playing for the Girls.

“They’re doing fine for never having played basketball before and maybe having a little bit of a language barrier and basketball has its own language so that’s really new to them as well but they’re doing fine,” said Coach Sanders.

Earlier this week the Lancers held their Blue-White Scrimmages and both Southeast coaches said it was a good time for the student-athletes to get out and compete in front of a crowd even though it’s not as intense as a regular game.

“It was good for them to get out and scrimmage, and the public to come in and kind of see,” said Coach Taylor,”  I thought it was a little rough, which I expected since having our practice at 5:30 then a little break then come back and scrimmage.  I saw some good things and I saw some things that we need to work on, but like I said, it was good for the kids to get out in front of the public.”

“I was really pleased with how it went,” said Southeast Girls Basketball Coach Derek Sanders.  “It was good for our girls to get out in front of some fans and have officials, and kind of know what to expect.”

At the home basketball games on December 16, Southeast will recognize the Lancer Wrestling Team.  The Southeast Homecoming is scheduled for January 9; and, Southeast Senior Night is scheduled for February 24.

Southeast seniors Riley Ulery and James Zimmerman fight for a loose ball at this week’s Blue-White Scrimmage. The Southeast Boys slogan this year is “Dirty Tough” and the team’s coach says it’s a reminder to do all of the little things it takes to win.

Southeast junior Katharina Jens and senior Maggie Renn reach for a rebound at this week’s Blue-White Scrimmage. On Friday, Southeast hosts Oswego. The Varsity Girls play in the East Gym at 6 p.m. The Varsity Boys game follows.