CSE raises aggressiveness, intensity in third quarter to meet its standard in win over Illini West

CAMP POINT, Ill. — Lexi Niekamp has only played eight games for the Central-Southeastern girls basketball team, but the freshman guard already understands the Panthers’ standard.

Niekamp also knew that despite leading 27-13 at halftime against Illini West on Monday, the Panthers did not meet that standard for a significant portion of that first half, especially in the second quarter. The Panthers only outscored the Chargers 12-11 in that frame.

“We had to come out, get after it, get a little fire under us and just push a little harder in the second half,” Niekamp said.

That extra fire contributed to a third quarter in which the Panthers outscored Illini West 21-6 and only surrendered one made field goal after Reagan Reed’s layup 12 seconds into the quarter. The Panthers, ranked ninth in the Class 2A state poll, ran away to a 55-27 victory.

“We knew we weren’t playing as aggressively as we could, so we wanted to come out in the second half, get things done quickly, hopefully get some of the young kids in there and get some insurance points,” CSE senior guard Lauren Miller said.

The Panthers accomplished all of those things.

“At halftime, we knew we had to change it to get a bigger lead, and we went out there and did it,” Panthers senior guard Karly Peters said.

The Panthers’ sluggish — by their standards — second quarter in which they turned the ball over nine times happened after a 15-2 first quarter. 

Panthers coach Matt Long saw the change in his team’s ferocity to begin the second half.

“We jumped out and got a pretty good lead, and I think we thought we were just going to coast, and that wasn’t the case,” Long said. “Give Illini West credit. They chipped away.

“The third quarter was a lot better. We came out with a little more passion, acted like we wanted to be on the floor a little bit more. They got to running the floor, which we do pretty well. Due to Illini West’s depth, I thought we tired them out a little bit in the third, and that opened the window for us to go on a big run.”

Miller put that aggression on display when she made a 3-pointer to stretch the Panthers’ lead to 35-17 with 4:15 left in the third quarter and hustled to the baseline to steal the inbounds pass and draw a shooting foul on Reed. 

Miller said going for that steal is worth the risk.

“Sometimes those sequences just happen. You think, ‘Maybe they don’t think I’m coming,’ just sneak in there and try to get a touch on it. It just happened to come to me,” Miller said. “We’ll have those when we’re aggressive. Sometimes you’ll miss them and you’ll have to bust your butt back on defense. It’s all about just taking that risk.”

Long expects nothing less from the first-team all-stater.

“It’s good to have a ballplayer like that, but I tell her, ‘That’s what all-staters are supposed to do, and you’re an all-stater,’” Long said.

Miller led the Panthers (7-1) with 21 points, 16 of which came in the second and third quarters, but Niekamp made her presence known on the offensive end, as well. She made four 3-pointers in the first three quarters and finished with 14 points.

“When I shoot, I always think I’m going to make it,” Niekamp said. “It’s nice, but I really only get the 3’s because of my teammates. They’re the ones that get me open most of the time. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to get those 3’s.”

Nearly half of the Panthers’ points came on their nine 3-pointers. Niekamp’s final triple came with 11 seconds left in the third quarter, extended the Panthers’ lead to 29 and caused quite the eruption from the crowd at Central High School.

“That’s the nature of the game. Somebody hits a 3, for some reason everybody gets really excited. Two points aren’t worth much excitement anymore,” Long said with a chuckle. “We probably need to learn to take a few more 2-pointers instead of looking for the 3 so much, but that’s the way they play. They enjoy getting up and down the floor and spotting up, and we’re not going to take that away from them.”

Illini West outscored the Panthers 13-12 from the beginning of the second quarter until the 6:30 mark of the third quarter. Chargers coach Grant Surprenant commended his team for that stretch that lasted nearly 10 minutes

“I thought we responded well,” Surprenant said. “At halftime, we made some adjustments, and we did a good job and scored right off the bat. We executed what we wanted to run offensively, and we got three stops in a row at the beginning of the third quarter. I thought that was a good sign for us. However, we didn’t convert on the offensive end. Against a great team, you have to convert. Give credit to them, though.”

Reed led Illini West (4-6) with eight points and scored all six of the Chargers’ points in the third quarter.