Panthers see room for improvement before Thursday’s regional championship game

CAMP POINT, Ill. — From Matt Long’s perspective, Monday night was a borderline disappointment — except for the final score.

From the way Lauren Miller saw things, there’s room for improvement but a win’s still a win.

The bottom line? The Central-Southeastern girls basketball team’s 18th straight victory was a little rough around the edges, but still dominant.

The Panthers controlled their Class 2A regional semifinal matchup with Pittsfield from start to finish, winning 51-28 at Central High School.

Long did not feel his club’s abundance of turnovers, errant passes and missed assignments were a collective case of looking past Pittsfield in anticipation of a potential meeting with Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin in the regional finals.

“We just weren’t doing the little things we need to do,” said Long, the Panthers’ veteran coach. “We need to forget this one and be better prepared for Thursday.”

That’s when top-seeded CSE (26-2) meets fourth-seeded SHG (21-11) in a 7 p.m. regional championship game and the right to advance to the Beardstown Sectional. Sacred Heart-Griffin ousted West Hancock 42-32 in Monday’s other regional semifinal.

Miller, a 5-foot-10 junior who led all scorers with 20 points, was not overly concerned with her club’s performance, although she agreed with Long that the Panthers could have certainly played better.

“Overall, I think we played pretty well, but we need to do a lot of the little things better — and we need to play smarter,” she said.

Miller, who leads CSE with a 17-point scoring average and is the center of much of what goes on with the Panthers’ offense, has steadily upped her overall game as the season has progressed.

“I’ve gained a lot of confidence during the season,” Miller said. “I feel like my shot has come around, especially from mid-range, and I’m moving better.” 

Miller was slowed somewhat early in the season while recovering from an ankle injury that sidelined her most of volleyball season

“A lot of that comes from confidence, because I know if I struggle my teammates will pick me up,” she said. “We know our strengths and weaknesses, but I don’t think we’re overconfident. We know that anything can happen in the postseason and it’s very unpredictable.”

CSE burst from the gate with a 19-3 lead after one quarter and owned a 32-11 halftime advantage. The Panthers sealed the victory by building the lead to 50-18 by the end of the third quarter.

CSE’s pressing defense created problems for Pittsfield throughout the first three quarters. That’s when Central-Southeastern forced the majority of Pittsfield’s 32 turnovers.

Brilyn Lantz was CSE’s other double-figure scorer with 16. Karly Peters added eight points. Parker Crim collected a team-best five rebounds.

Freshman Sophie Gengler led Pittsfield (13-13) with 10 points. Deeghan Allen scored six points and reeled in a game-high six rebounds.

Long anticipates a physical game with Sacred Heart-Griffin.

“SHG has impressive size inside, and we’re not very big,” he said.

Callie Huston, a 5-foot-10 senior, is SHG’s go-to girl. She had 14 points against West Hancock. Sophie Murphy, a 5-foot-11 junior, is another inside presence who is rotated in and out of the game.

Arguably the top overall talent on the SHG roster is 5-foot-9 senior Maggie Fleischli, who had 10 points and a team-best five rebounds against West Hancock. Fleischli leads the Cyclones in rebounding (5.1) and is second in scoring (9.5) to Huston (11.4).