Start of a new year doesn't affect Ell-Saline girls basketball in 2022 opener against Inman

BROOKVILLE — The calendar may have flipped to 2022, but Ell-Saline’s girls haven’t missed a beat from the old year and if Tuesday night was any indication, they just might be embracing it even more.

The Cardinals started their season with a 6-0 mark in the month of December. And it didn't change against Inman. Ell-Saline improved to 7-0 and 2-0 in Heart of America with a 44-7 rout of the Teutons at the Ell-Saline gym.

Ell-Saline coach Bill Gies knows what he wants and expects from his team — defense.

With his club built around a trio of seniors — Sadie Bradley, Raleigh Kramer and Rayne Hardesty — the Cardinals can attack from many angles. Add in junior post Keala Wilson and sophomore point guard Bayleigh Schneider, Gies credits the starters for providing the kind of defense necessary to have this kind of success.

“We’ve done a lot of things between our first practice until now, better than I thought we would,” he said.“We’re still putting in adjustments to make ourselves better, especially defensively. Offensively, we don’t work enough, but I’m sold on – if they don’t score, we win.”

Tuesday night turned out to be a prime example since Ell-Saline held the Teutons to .068 percent shooting from the field (2 of 29) for the entire 32 minutes.

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Much of that was the work in the paint and the 94-foot pressure that produced 22 turnovers.

Putting in the work during the offseason has also been a major factor for Ell-Saline's success.

“We were in the weight room all summer,” Bradley said after scoring seven points in the first quarter to get the rout started. "I know (Gies) wanted to push us to be quick so we hit the gym and he just knew we were going to be a quick team so we use that to our advantage."

Gies said the Cardinals' time in the weight room has played dividends to their success.

“We played two games a night in summer league and we really bonded, so that summer work really helped us," Gies said.

Out of the ten girls Gies played against Inman, nine scored led by Bradley’s 12 and Wilson’s double-double (10 points and 11 rebounds).

“Familiarity has gone a long way toward our success since Sadie, Raleigh and Rayne have played together since the second or third grade," Gies said. "You can’t help but see the chemistry they have out there. The first five we have, they play together really well and it’s fun to watch them when things start to work and they point to each other and say ‘good pass, good job.'"

Bradley said that the team always starts with a specific game plan, but as it progresses, she and her teammates simply adjust themselves.

As to holding a conference team to single digits for a full game, she said that became a goal at intermission when the Cardinals held a 21-4 lead.

“During the third quarter our assistant coach, Brandi Schneider, told us on the bench – ‘We are keeping them below double digits.' So that was our goal from halftime on,” Bradley said. Playing with Rayne and Raleigh since I can remember. We just know how each other play and Wilson – we just know each other is going to be.”

Early turnovers haunt Ell-Saline boys in fifth consecutive loss

Inman forced 15 first-half turnovers in jumping out to a 31-9 halftime lead and weathered Ell-Saline charges in the second half to pull out a 48-32 Heart of America win.

Inman improves to 6-1, 2-0 while the Cardinals drop to 1-6, 0-2.

“When you (have) moments like (the first half) are going to happen where we look terrible and unfortunately, it’s too frequently that it’s happening,” Ell-Saline coach Marty Wendel said. "But then you have moments in the game where we’re patient, we’re mature, we run our sets that get us shots we want. We’ve just got to continue to grow. It’s a young group. We’ve just got to find more opportunities and chances to be successful in what we’re doing.”

Mason Ellerman led the Cardinals with nine points.

Ell-Saline travels to Whitewater to face Remington on Friday.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: How Ell-Saline girls basketball are starting 2022 strong