The Allen Red Devil basketball teams were swept in their final regular season matchups of the season against Johnson County Wednesday night.
It was sophomore night for a number of Allen men’s basketball (21-9; 10-4) players as Chris Dixon, Max Cheap, Nick Whittick, Malachi Martin, Ahmed Mahgoub, Brayden Thompson, Zabriel Boozer, Tanner Meyer and Trevian Sylvester were honored.
The Lady Red Devils (18-11; 7-7) honored sophomores Shade Richardson, Naomi Smith, Britney Schroer, Clara Romero and Skyler Evans.
Lady Red Devils
The Allen ladies were down early and attempted a late comeback but it wasn’t enough against a Johnson team which shot the ball at a 46.2% clip from three-point range in a 55-42 loss.
The Lady Devils struggled to get any sort of inside presence going offensively, scoring most of their points from the outside.
“They are a bigger and stronger team than we are but I didn’t feel like we used our strength, our height and the things that we can do until the second half,” Allen head coach Leslie Crane said. “We didn’t body back underneath in the first half. Once we did it, we could hang.”
Johnson took the lead early when Nariyah Simmons helped her Cavaliers pull away with four 3-pointers in seven attempts. Johnson County shot 62% from 3-point range in the first half.
The Lady Devils trailed by double digits in the second quarter, with Allen’s lone offensive spark coming from Khassidy Warr, who hit a number of two-point jumpers. Allen shot 25% from the field in the first half.
Allen trailed 30-16 at the break.
Warr and her Lady Red Devils cranked up the defensive intensity in the second half when the freshman went for two steals. Many of the Cavaliers’ 18 turnovers came in the second half and resulted in easy layups for Allen.
“I wish we could have had that spark a little bit sooner tonight,” said Crane. “They all know how to fight, they don’t ever quit, they don’t back down, they get after it and keep going. That’s what these sophomores have given to this team.”
At a point in the end of the third quarter, Allen forced four straight turnovers to take back possession but couldn’t always capitalize on the extra attempts. The Lady Devils trailed the Cavaliers by 14 heading to the fourth, 44-30.
Shade Richardson went for some late two-pointers and Noa Muranaka hit a three in the final quarter to bring the game as close as nine, but that’s as close as Allen could get.
Johnson continued to knock down shots and secured the win.
