The Allen men’s and women’s basketball teams picked up crucial early season victories at home on Tuesday night in some tightly contested matchups.
The Lady Red Devils (5-1) used a final second three-pointer from freshman Noa Muranaka to take down Crowder College, 70-67. The men’s Red Devils (4-3) shot lights out from the floor to take down North Arkansas College, 86-73.
Women’s Basketball
The Allen women used some late game heroics in a game that went down to the wire in the final seconds. Both squads were evenly matched when ACC’s Muranaka scored a buzzer beater three-pointer to win it.
“When she shot it I knew it was going in because I know her shooting,” said Allen head coach Leslie Crane. “Every time she shoots the ball I think it’s going in and she didn’t miss much tonight. She had an open look at it and why not? I knew if it didn’t go in it was fine because we had fought so hard and we could win it in overtime.”
Both teams traded blows throughout the game but Allen controlled the ball more in the first half. The Roughriders then pressured the Lady Devils, forcing turnovers and allowing Crowder back into the game.
“I thought in the first half we played a lot smarter. In the second half we let them speed us up instead of playing our smart basketball,” Crane said. “They pressed more and we quit going to the ball. We weren’t valuing the ball and therefore we had turnover after turnover. They didn’t give up and we kept fighting. We’ve got to continue to learn to not make those mistakes.”
Three ACC players finished in double figures. Naomi Smith and Skyler Evans had 20 points apiece while Muranaka chipped in 15 points, going three-for-seven from three-point land.
Allen has come to dominate at the glass with their size this season as they outrebounded Crowder, 47-29. The Lady Red Devils snatched 25 offensive rebounds and 22 defensive rebounds as opposed to the Roughriders’ 15 offensive and 14 defensive rebounds.
“We got it into our bigs when we wanted to, we finished,” said Crane. “We still have some young kids who are learning how to play and trying to do too much instead of the simple things. I had mostly sophomores which was one of the main reasons we were able to go ahead and win the ballgame. With the exception of Noa, we had mainly sophomores in.”
The red and black combined to shoot 43.9% from the field while Crowder shot 41.1%.. The Lady Red Devils and Roughriders also shared a three-point shooting mark of 30%. Both teams shot around 50% from the free throw line.
Allen travels to Dallas College Richland on Friday at 6 p.m.
Men’s Basketball
The Red Devils battled in a physical game against North Arkansas which saw Allen make shots early and ultimately force turnovers late for their third straight win.
Allen had trouble early holding possession and turned the ball over on a few costly mistakes for North Arkansas to score in transition. Halfway through the first half, the Red Devils held on to the basketball and began knocking down jump shots.
