The road to the regional championship got a bit smoother after Fort Scott upset Allen's biggest rival and sets up a semifinal game against a team the Red Devils already defeated by a large margin twice this season.
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.
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.
?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 vs. Fort Scott at Johnson County Community College.
Article and Photo Credit: Jimmy Potts