Stagg’s Shannon Earley said her dream job is to become an author.
So far, she’s pretty good at rewrites.
The 6-foot-2 senior forward has been effectively reworking the record books for the Chargers with her rebounding, including a single-game mark of 28 to open the season against St. Laurence.
“When I heard how many rebounds I had, I was shocked,” said Earley, who came up with the most boards by a Stagg player since Emily Heikes, who went to star at Purdue, totaled 26 in a game against Rich East during the 1999-2000 season. “I knew I had a lot, but not that many.”
On that night, like any other night, her philosophy for getting a rebound is simple.
“I just want to get after it as much as I can,” Earley said. “I try to have that mentality of, ‘That’s my ball, not someone else’s.’”
Earley, a Carroll commit, is on pace to earn several records for Stagg despite the fact that she only has a full year of varsity experience under her belt plus a handful of games so far this season.
To date, Earley has 81 rebounds for Stagg (3-2). She erupted Saturday with 19 against Oak Park-River Forest. Heather King has the program’s single-season season mark with 304 in 2002-2003.
As far as blocked shots go, Earley talled eight against Reavis as a junior to put her name in the record books for the first time. That was followed by the most blocks in a season with 69.
She has produced 12 blocked shots this season, bringing her career total up to 81, only 11 away from the program record.
While rebounds are the result of hard work and heady anticipation, blocked shots are a completely different equation. The distance between a block and a foul is minimal.
“It’s all about the read,” Earley said of the art of blocking shots. “Obviously, when I go up there, I want to contest it every single time. But you have to wait for that perfect moment where the ball leaves their hands. It’s about having the right timing.”
“She has an eye for it, and not a lot of kids do,” said Allee Hernandez said, a Providence graduate who’s in her first year as Stagg’s coach. “More often or not, she comes away with the block.”
It’s the main reason why Earley gets the green light from her coach.
“I always encourage Shannon,” Hernandez said. “A lot of my kids I encourage to take a charge over a block, but for her, I know she’s pretty consistent with it.
“I want to keep pushing her in that realm this year as well.”
Hernandez and assistant Michael Landstrom were freshman coaches at Stagg when Earley started out on that level, so they both have been able to watch her progress and blossom.
“She’s been consistent and aggressive,” Landstrom said of Earley. “But her personality is one of those lost aspects as she has really stepped up as a leader.
“You can see it on the court as everybody looks to her as a leader.”
Earley credits her older brother, Sean, for some of her basketball skills. Sean is a 6-8 junior center at Concordia Wisconsin, and one-on-one games in Hickory Hills didn’t always go Shannon’s way.
“We got into it in the driveway, definitely,” Shannon said of the sibling rivalry. “We had some pretty intense one-on-ones and H-O-R-S-E competitions.
“It was a good thing, though. It helped me grow as a player. It helped me with my toughness.”
Shannon, meanwhile, wants to major in English and psychology and hopes to be an author or journalist or even get into social counseling.
She also wants to enjoy four more years on the basketball court because of how much the game means to her.
“I love the competition,” she said. “In any sport, you have a competitive nature. But in basketball it’s competition that you don’t get anywhere else.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
