It was all hands on deck for the Allen womens basketball team in their successful home 71-61 upset of No. 13 Labette County Tuesday night.
Everyone who suited up played and found a way to contribute in a meaningful way for Allen to topple the talented and athletic Cardinals.
Its such a great feeling, head coach Rachel Janzen said. Coming into the game, I knew that we were going to need a complete team effort if we wanted to get a win and thats exactly what we got. It was such a big win for us.
Sophomore Jakira Wilson dominated the game with 24 points and four assists while playing nearly the entire 40 minutes. But it was the newcomers that really took center stage.
Point guard Gabby Guzman showed her long-range prowess, scoring 14 points off 4-7 shooting from beyond the arc while also nabbing a steal and an assist.
She just exudes leadership when shes out there on the court, Janzen said of Guzman. You can tell shes getting more and more confident. Her outside shooting was huge for us tonight.
Fellow freshmen Zoe Marshall, Trinity Tillis and Ariel Walker also had big nights.
Marshall held her own among the Labette trees down low, scoring 11 points on very efficient 4-5 shooting while also going 3-4 from the free throw line and Tillis, despite recording just one point, was very instrumental in clogging the lane and keeping the Cardinals bigs out of rhythm.
Walker scored eight points all in the second half to go along with three rebounds and four assists.
The Lady Devils struggled with the Cardinals size and athleticism early on and trailed into the second quarter before settling into a 2-3 zone on defense.
After trailing by just a point after the first quarter, Allen managed to tie it up at 20 with a little under five minutes to play in the half before taking their first lead at 26-25 with two and a half minutes to play in the second quarter.
Coming in, we knew how big and athletic they were and we knew that we probably werent going to beat them at their own game so we went with the zone, Janzen said. It really held them up and allowed us to hang around early so we could pull away down the stretch.
The two teams headed into halftime tied up at 28. From there it was a back-and-forth game and the teams remained locked up at 47 points apiece heading into the final period.
Janzen got hit with a technical early in the fourth quarter but Labette missed both free throws allowing the Lady Devils to push forward and make some space with an 8-0 run.
This is the kind of win that builds a team and draws them together, Janzen said. I got myself in a bit of trouble when I got my technical. But I got to say my piece and they came out after that and fought for me just like I was fighting for them. When we start to gel like that, its a special feeling.
