Thanks to hard work and dedication, Middle’s Powell goes from little used freshman to senior standout on verge of major milestone

Posted: January 11th 2026

Middle Township senior Reagen Powell enters Monday's game against Wildwood Catholic 15 points shy of 1,000 for her career.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

Reagen Powell barely saw any varsity action as a freshman on the Middle Township High School girls basketball team.

Now a senior, Powell has developed into one of the program’s all-time greats.

On Monday, the 5-9 senior guard/forward will have a chance to reach a major milestone. She’ll enter the key Cape-Atlantic American Conference contest just 15 points shy of 1,000 for her career.

“It definitely helps keep my mind off it because the game is already such a big challenge,” Powell said. “I just want to let the game come to me and not force anything.”

After seeing very limited action in only eight varsity games as a freshman, Powell forced her way into the starting lineup as a sophomore.

A conversation with Middle coach John Leahy at the close of her freshman campaign was the catalyst.

“I met with Coach Leahy and asked him a couple things I could do to help me get in the rotation,” Powell recalled. “I spent a lot of time working on my flaws. Then I got to my sophomore year and I was starting.”

REAGEN POWELL

Powell was a solid sole player as a sophomore, averaging 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Then as a junior, Powell grew into one of the best players in the CAL, averaging 16.6 points and 5.9 rebounds.

Leahy remains impressed with Powell’s humility and willingness to accept that she needed to work on her game.

“Reagen is a tremendous example for young players and their parents of not focusing so much on where you start but focusing on where you’re going to finish,” Leahy said. “A lot of people make the mistake as a freshman of, ‘Am I going to start?’ instead of worrying about where they want to be at the finish line.

“We had a good team her freshman year, and Reagen didn’t even get a varsity letter. But instead of complaining and blaming everyone else, she asked me what she thought she needed to work on so she could be a varsity player the next year. We communicated, and then she got in the gym and worked.

“There’s no secret formula to it. She was super motivated and she put in the work. She put the time in to work on her skill level.”

At 17.1 points per game, Powell is the leading scorer for a Middle team that enters Monday’s contest against the Crusaders unbeaten through nine games. Powell and fellow senior teammates Abbey Cappelletti and Sarah Farrow are the most experienced players for an otherwise younger, less experienced group that is shooting to win the South Jersey Group II title for the fourth straight season and the CAL playoff tournament title for the second straight season.

Powell, who has committed to play at Division II Caldwell University next scholastic year, has been impressed by the younger and less experienced players.

“It’s going really well,” Powell said. “With me and Sarah and Abbey, we have really solid chemistry from playing so much together and we’re trying our best to get the other girls comfortable with us and it’s going well so far. Our other starters and the bench players have been playing well. They’ve stepped up in a lot of our games. It goes into how everyone plays in practice. They’re going after us in practice and not backing down from the three of us and that helps our team.”

Powell is about to become the 18th player at Middle to score 1,000 career points, Included on the list is her personal trainer, Lauryn Fields, and former teammate Jada Elston, who’s now playing at Division I Fairleigh Dickinson. Leahy, a 1990 graduate of Middle, is on the boys list with well over 2,000 career points.

“It would mean a lot to me, especially with this team, and with my coach and my trainer, Lauryn, on the list,” Powell said. “It would be great to have my name up there.”

She has a chance to be up there because of the work she’s put in over the last few years.

“She’s definitely one of the best players we’ve coached, for sure,” said Leahy, now in his 23rd season as the program’s head coach. “I think you could argue that she might be the most improved player we’ve ever coached when you look at where she was as a freshman to where she is now as a senior.

“It all starts with attitude and the approach and the willingness to listen and then put the time in. She wants to work. I’ve talked to her college coaches, and I’m not even sure she’s scratched the surface of how good she can be. I think she’s still going to get taller and if she puts on 10 pounds of muscle she’s just going to keep getting better and better.”

MIDDLE TOWNSHIP GIRLS BASKETBALL CAREER 1,000-POINT SCORERS

Player Gr. Year Pts.

Lauryn Fields 2014 1692

Kira Sides 2020 1667

Jen Snyder 1985 1589

Shelley Ridgway 1984 1471

Caren Forbes 1983 1456

Merri Jones 1995 1450

Michelle Greenwaldt 1989 1260

Sue McKinley 1981 1254

Kate Herlihy 2021 1239

Jada Elston 2023 1172