Before Allen women’s basketball head coach Leslie Crane was brought in to lead the Lady Red Devils last season, the team had only won two games the year prior.
Crane has an extensive coaching resume that spans stints at Division I universities including the University of Missouri and Western Illinois University.
The longtime coach also has experience at the junior college level at Independence Community College, Kansas City Community College as well as at the high school level.
Not to mention, Crane’s father Neil coached the men’s team years ago and was very successful on the court and molding his players for the real world.
“Changing the culture here is part of it and how we look at things as a women’s basketball program,” said Crane. “What we need to do to win games, you’ve got to work every day and you’ve got to relax on the offensive end and shoot the ball. The ball doesn’t always go in so you’ve got to count on defense and rebounding.”
Defense and rebounding will be the Lady Red Devils’ calling card. Crane has a winning recipe of recruiting players from high school and club programs which pride themselves on the defensive end of the court.
She says if the offense isn’t there, the defense and rebounding is what you have to rely on.
The Lady Red Devils have a strong core of front court, interior players returning and recruited some shooters to help with the perimeter offense. Those returning include Naomi Smith and Clara Romero.
“We’ve got some good weapons this year, we’re still going to play inside out,” Crane said. “Everyone knows you can’t have a perimeter game until you have an interior game. We’ve got some good kids inside and some good shooters out there that we’ve recruited.”
Naomi Smith was an All-Conference player last year. Others returning to work the inside are Clara Romero and Skylar Evans.
“The new kids that we have coming in are shaping up nicely and know what their roles are.”
Crane said she looks for well-rounded students.
“It’s always a winning combination when you recruit a good student-athlete that’s both good in the classroom, good on the court and good character kids,” Crane said. “We try to vet our kids as much as possible and bring those kids into a program we’re trying to rebuild, it takes time.”
The success of Crane’s coaching career means not just her success on the court winning games but also creating a game plan for life. She likes to teach her student-athletes the importance of winning basketball games as well as winning in life.
“We’re teaching them how to have a game plan so to speak but also a game plan for life,” said Crane. “Sometimes you’ve got to have more than one game plan. If things go wrong you’ve got to have alternatives just like on the court. I’ve always said the game of basketball parallels the game of life and you’re teaching kids how to be prepared for life.”
