Chargers still looking for consistency from Reed’s supporting cast after Shootout loss

CARTHAGE, Ill. — Monmouth-Roseville girls basketball coach Scott Weber knew how dangerous Reagan Reed — Illini West’s career points leader — would be.

It was a matter of stopping everyone else.

“Reed is going to get her points,” Weber said. “She’s a really good player who knows how to score. We knew she would get hers, but we didn’t want her to get hers and two or three other girls get theirs.”

Reed scored 21 points against the Titans in the Jerry Logan Shootout on Monday, but that total was nearly double that of Reed’s supporting cast. The Titans limited the rest of the Chargers to 13 points and five made field goals in a 50-34 victory at the Illini West High School gym.

“We just wanted to come in and set the tone defensively,” Weber said. “I thought the girls did a really good job on hedging their screens and did a nice job overall.”

Even as the Titans’ lead grew to double figures midway through the third quarter, Reed remained aggressive. She had 11 points and made all seven of her free-throw attempts in the second half.

“No matter what the score is, I’m always going to try to get to the rim,” Reed said.

Chargers coach Grant Surprenant commended Reed, who has surpassed 1,500 points in her career, for staying on the attack.

“Reagan does a good job of getting to the basket, being aggressive and looking to score in that area,” Surprenant said.

Surprenant said some of the other Chargers are starting to feed off of Reed’s aggressiveness, even though it only showed in glimpses on Monday.

“We’ve got some other girls who are starting to get that mentality, and we’re going to need that as the season goes,” Surprenant said. “We’re starting to figure things out. We have to continue to get back at it and continue to attack and fight, and good things will happen.”

Monmouth-Roseville led 34-24 entering the fourth quarter, and after the Titans stretched that lead to 44-28 with 3:30 left, the Chargers never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

Reed scored all five of the Chargers’ points in a 14-5 first quarter. The Chargers trimmed that deficit to 20-16 with 1:12 left in the first half, but the Titans doubled that lead with two buckets in the final minute of the second quarter, both by Layla Katile.

“Instead of being down four going into halftime, we’re down eight, and that’s a big difference against an experienced team like Monmouth-Roseville,” Surprenant said. “That first quarter, we gave up two threes to one of their better shooters and kind of got lackadaisical, but once we buckled down and settled down defensively, we were able to mix and match a few things to get them off balance and disrupt their momentum. That led to the offensive end, and we were able to get some easy baskets and some shots to fall.”

Monday’s game marked the beginning of a grueling week for Illini West (12-11) and the first of three straight games against teams at least 10 games over .500. After their loss to the now 17-7 Titans, the Chargers will now take on two state-ranked teams in a three-day span. On Thursday, they will head to The Pit to face Quincy Notre Dame (19-2), which is tied for the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press Class 3A state poll, and will host Brown County, the No. 9 team in Class 1A, on Saturday.

“It doesn’t get any easier, but that’s part of our schedule to prepare us for the postseason,” Surprenant said.

Shane Hulsey photos