IOLA, Kan. (AllenRedDevils.com) – After averaging nearly 30-point wins in games Friday and Saturday, Allen Community College’s women remain unbeaten, but with room to improve, head coach Leslie Crane says.
Her young team isn’t where Allen Community College head coach Leslie Crane wants it to be, at least not yet.
That may mean bad news for the Red Devil women’s future opponents, because Allen keeps winning, anyways.
Allen capped a lopsided weekend Friday and Saturday at the Red Devil Classic, first steamrolling visiting McPherson’s junior varsity 66-36 on Friday.
And then after travel issues prevented Oklahoma Wesleyan from getting to Iola for Saturday’s game, the Red Devils found another opponent in Independence Community College.
That did nothing to slow down ACC’s offense, however.
The Red Devils zipped out to a 12-0 lead to start the game and never looked back in a 78-49 victory.
The wins keep Allen perfect at 6-0 to start the season, but with Crane still not satisfied.
“We let them in the lane too much,” Crane said of Independence. “They did everything under the glass. We didn’t protect that. We’ve got to do a better job in those situations.”
Sure enough, when Independence got the ball inside, the Pirates usually scored. Indy hit 9 of its 12 field goal attempts after intermission, thus keeping the game from becoming a total laughter.
But Allen’s ball pressure elsewhere often made it difficult for Independence to set up its offense to begin with.
Red Devil sophomore guard Mafalda Chambel was particularly effective at disrupting pretty much anything Independence tried to establish with her on-ball pressure.
“She’s a one-man press,” Crane laughed.
Chambel had four of Allen’s 16 steals as the Red Devils forced 31 turnovers against Independence.
“We did some good things,” Crane said. “We kept them under 50, and we could have kept them lower. But that’s me being greedy.”
Allen cooled after its blistering start, as Independence rattled off seven straight points to pull to within 12-7.
But Allen re-established itself. Chambel’s 3 at the end of the first-quarter buzzer pushed the lead back to double digits at 17-7.
The lead grew to 37-22 by halftime.
Audry Peek’s 3-pointer stretched the lead to 20 points late in the third quarter.
Crane was able to get plenty of her reserves into the game. Of Allen’s 12 players on the roster, 11 of them played at least 11 minutes Saturday.
Chambel led the way with 17 points, followed by Nikki Gear’s 12 points and six rebounds. Aaliyah Brown scored nine points with five assists. Tawhirikura Doyle added eight points, Delta Shaw and Marta Cutazzo added seven points apiece, and Juana Rojas and Doyle both had three steals. Yolaine Luthi and Ja’Mya Garland both had four assists.
ALLEN controlled McPherson on Friday from the get-go.
The Red Devils opened with an 18-6 blitz and stretched the lead to 37-16 at halftime. After a stagnant third quarter, the Red Devils ended with another push, outscoring McPherson 18-6 down the stretch.
Gear had her hands on pretty much everything defensive, pulling in 10 steals in the victory. Brown did the heavy lifting on offense with 19 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. Chambel scored 11 points with three assists. Garland had nine points and 10 rebounds. Aiyanna Mason scored seven.
“We’re improving,” Crane said. “We learn something new every game. We’ve just got to get better defensively and not let the other guys get inside.”
