A frigid night from the field has Allen Community College’s women in an 0-2 hole to start conference play.
The Red Devils missed 31 of their first 35 field goal attempts, courtesy of a rugged Independence Community College defense.
The Pirates were able to find their own footing offensively in the second half, emerging with a 63-51 victory.
The loss drops Allen to 7-7 on the season and 0-2 in Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division play.
“We’re behind the 8-ball, dropping two conference games at home,” Allen coach Mark James said. “Give Independence credit. They dictated what we wanted to do and pushed us around. It seemed like every shot was a struggle.”
The Red Devils hit only 4 of 27 field goal attempts in the first half as Independence forged ahead 30-18 at the break.
Allen’s only offensive salvation in the opening half came at the free throw line, where the Red Devils hit 10 of 11 charities to stay within shouting distance.
The Red Devils continued to spin their wheels after the break, missing their first eight attempts from the field until reserve freshman Leslie Ware broke the drought with a traditional 3-point play with 13:47 remaining in the contest.
The play cut what had been an 18-point Independence lead to 38-23.
Ware’s second 3-point play about two minutes later pulled Allen to within 42-29.
“Leslie got tired of losing,” James said. “She’s done that in practice before, where she gets tired of losing and decides to take matters into her own hands.”
Kendra Taiclet scored inside at the 9:33 mark, followed 30 seconds later by an Ebonie Jones 3-pointer to cut the gap to 12, 46-34.
But the Pirates’ Sabrina Berry was there to answer every charge, scoring all 12 of her points in the second period.
Independence maintained its double-digit lead until Miracle Davis scored on a layup for Allen with 80 seconds left in the game. Brittney Redmond drained a 3-pointer at the 1-minute mark to cut the gap to 59-51.
Independence went 4 of 6 from the line in the final minute to seal the win.
Ware scored 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds to lead the Red Devils, followed by Davis with 11 and DaNara Day with 10 points and six boards. Day dished out three assists.
Allen shot a frigid 22 percent (15 of 67) from the field and went 17 of 22 from the line (77 percent).
Indepenence’s Kelby McGrath scored all but two of her game-high 15 points before halftime to lead the Pirates.
Allen resumes play Saturday at Fort Scott.
Independence (30-33—63)
Allen (18-33—51)
Independence (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Ryce 1-1-1-3, Maxwell 3-3-2-9, Ford 0-0-3-0, Gaines 2-3-4-7, McGrath 1/3-4-1-15, Peterson 0-1-1-1, Thomas 4-0-1-8, Ledoux 0-1-1-1, Berry 5-2-1-12, Wallen-Morillo 2-0-2-4, Riabencheko 1-1-4-3. TOTALS: 19/3-16-25-63.
Allen (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Jones 0/1-0-4-3, Davis 2/1-4-3-11, Day 2-6-3-10, Redmond 0/1-0-2-3, Peel 0/1-0-0-3, Taiclet 1-0-2-2, Ware 4-4-1-12, Blackwell 2-1-3-5. TOTALS: 11/4-17-20-51.
Red Devil offense sputters in loss
