The Allen Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams went a combined 3-1 as each faced off in a pair of away games.
The Red Devil men (5-4) split their matchups, first falling to No. 4 Des Moines Area Community College on Friday, 80-69, before knocking off No. 20 Iowa Western Community College on Saturday, 69-49. The Lady Red Devils (7-1) beat Dallas College Richland and Dallas College Mountain View.
Women’s Basketball
Allen ousted Dallas College Richland on Friday night, 74-26. The red and black allowed only 26 Thunderduck points all night and forced 31 turnovers.
“We are progressing as a team well,” said Allen head coach Leslie Crane. “We have to continue to play good half-court defense and rebound the ball consistently. Execution offensively is always something that must continue to improve and reading defenses to know where the ball needs to go to score is always a challenge.”
“We played a lot of people and we were able to learn quite a bit more about ourselves and our team,” Crane continued. “We rebounded extremely well and took care of the ball which are two areas needed to continue to win ball games. We were able to handle our press offenses better and develop better trust in one another.”
On Saturday, Allen took down Dallas College Mountain View, 67-43. The Lady Red Devils forced a monstrous 32 turnovers defensively to dominate on that side of the ball all weekend.
“Our defense was pretty good this weekend,” Crane said. “Obviously, we had to fight through some adversity on Saturday with being tired and sore from the previous night. The kids played hard, but we will need to be more efficient, and that takes some mental toughness we are still trying to learn.”
Allen plays Cottey College at home on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Men’s Basketball
The Red Devils lost to No. 4 Des Moines Area Community College on Friday night, 80-69. Allen fell behind after a few big scoring runs from the Bears in both the first and second half.
Allen slipped behind early in the game but made it tighter by halftime.
The Red Devils began the second half down eight points but quickly got back into the game on a scoring run.
The red and black were able to grab a two-point advantage midway through the second half which quickly evaporated following another scoring run by the Bears. Allen fell by 11 points at the final buzzer.
“Des Moines is a very well-rounded team that does not have many weaknesses,” said Allen head coach Andy Shaw. “We hung tough, but struggled getting enough defensive stops to win the game. We battled, but just came up a bit short.”
