Defensively, Allen County Community College’s women had shown a strong work ethic on the basketball court. Their head coach never questioned that fact.
Unfortunately, in the first three games of the season it was the offense that was not coming together for the Red Devils. So home the Red Devils came for the 2011 Red Devil Classic.
Over the weekend, the ACCC women captured their first and second victories of the season on their home court. The Red Devils finally pulled away from the 11th-ranked Cottey College Comets for a 64-48 win Friday night, then battled Bethel College’s junior varsity to net a 67-66 overtime win Saturday.
“We’re not always going to get our shots to fall but the one thing we can always control is defense,” said Mark James, ACCC women’s head coach. “And the one thing, whether we win or lose, I’ve never once questioned, how hard we’ve worked on the defensive end.
“I’ve got a good group of girls. It’s one of the hardest working groups I’ve coached.”
The Red Devil women are 2-3 on the season. They head to Neosho, Mo. this Friday and Saturday for the Crowder Classic.
Allen County built a four-point lead by intermission on Friday night, going into the locker room up 25-21 over Cottey College. The game stayed close until Allen County broke open the game from the 47-44 point.
Kayla Morton nailed two three-pointers in a row, which helped extend the Red Devil lead. Morton drilled three of four from long range on her way to a team-high 17 points.
“The key in this win was our ability to hit shots. We always go hard no matter what the score is but it hadn’t translated into wins yet, until tonight,” James said. “Once the shots started falling, it started to snowball.”
The Red Devils were 7 of 19 from three-point range, led by Morton. Rackell Goldson added 13 points and Ebonie Jones downed 11 points.
Jamie Peel collected eight rebounds for the Red Devils. Miracle Davis handed out six assists and had three steals, as did Morton.Allen County shot 38.5 percent from the field, 25 of 65, from the field and went 7 of 11 at the free-throw line.
Despite shooting just 29 percent from the field, 23 of 79, the Red Devils came out on top in overtime Saturday. They were down 24-19 to Bethel College JV at halftime.
A technical foul on ACCC with 1.5 seconds left in regulation allowed Bethel to forge a 60-all tie. ACCC outscored Bethel 7-6 in the extra period.
Davis paced the Red Devils with 16 points, three assists and six steals. Brittney Redmond, who hit four threes in the game including one in the overtime, ended up with 13 points. Morton tossed in 12 points and made five steals.
Allen County had 41 rebounds led by Peel’s eight. Goldson had six rebounds and Morton controlled five.
Red Devil women win at home
