The Allen Community College Red Devils head into Friday’s regional semifinal with a full head of steam after routing Hesston 80-28 in Monday’s postseason opener.
The Red Devils bested the Larks in every statistical category as they doubled Hesston’s first-half production to put the game away early.
“We did some good things. We did a lot of good things,” Allen coach Leslie Crane said. “Sure, we scored quite a bit, but what I like about it is we held them to 28 points and single digits in the second, third and fourth quarter. When you do that with your defense, you do it with rebounding. And, we were able to do it very well.”
Despite blowing out Hesston, Allen did not have a true standout performer Monday. Sophomore forward Aaliyah Brown’s team-leading 15 points was only one better than freshman guard Audrey Peek and four ahead of freshman guard Juana Rojas’ 11. Rebounds also had a strange statistical similarity with Brown’s 12 to Rojas’ 10.
The only area Hesston surpassed the Red Devils was turnovers.
“We held them down with their shooting, and how many second and third shots they had,” Crane said. “We forced 23 turnovers. I have to be happy with that.”
Sophomore guard Mafalda Chambel got into foul trouble early.
Even so, “she had two steals and four assists. All the girls were in passing lanes at different times and able to get their hands on a lot of balls.”
With her team well ahead by the end of the third quarter, Crane opted to her bench to keep her starters fresh ahead of Friday’s regional semifinal. With the win, Allen improves to 21-4 and next faces Fort Scott (12-16), who also comes into Friday’s game after upsetting Allen arch-rival Neosho (19-8) Monday in a 72-57 blowout.
“Going into this next game, it’s good we rested some folks. We had a lot of kids contribute tonight, which is good,” Crane said. “It’s what you want to have. We’ll see what happens down the road, but we’re going to take the next three days to prepare and get ready for the weekend.”
Despite twice defeating the Fort Scott Greyhounds 56-30 and more recently 59-21, Crane is not planning ahead for the winner of the other semifinal game featuring the Johnson County Community College Cavaliers (30-0) and the Highland College Scots (25-4).
“We’ll see what we can do. We have to get through our second game first before we start thinking about that,” Crane said. “We got past Hesston, and now we’re going to focus on the next game. We’re going to enjoy this tonight.”
Tip off for Friday’s game is at 5:30 p.m.
