Both the Allen County men’s and women’s basketball teams had their chance at landing their first conference win of the season at home on Saturday versus Coffeyville. For the women, it was turnovers that held them back while the men just couldn’t find their stroke from the free throw line.
The Lady Devils (2-3, 0-1 in conference play) fell 68-64 while the men (2-3, 0-1) lost 81-67.
The Allen women struggled early. Starting sophomore forward Akia Andrews got herself into foul trouble allowing Coffeyville to carve out a slight five-point lead as both teams struggled to not turn the ball over.
However, a renewed focus throughout the second quarter allowed the Lady Devils to regain ground and tie it up at 28 going into halftime.
That tenacity paid off with Allen County opening the second half with a 10-2 run and positioning the Lady Devils with what looked like would be a winning formula.
“I thought the togetherness was really good,” head coach Todd Buchanan said. “I thought, for lack of a better word, they had some ‘pissed-off-ness’ about them. Which is something that I want to see. But then with five minutes to go, we literally threw it to them three times in a row to let them get back into it. I mean, they read it, give them credit, but those three plays will bother me until we throw it up again on Wednesday.”
The Lady Devils could not get out of their own way. They committed 25 turnovers after just coming off of a 30-turnover performance in their narrow loss at Labette.
But even with all of that, the Lady Devils found themselves with a slight lead in the fourth quarter. With around a minute left the play, Coffeyville’s Tatiana hit back-to-back threes to give the Lady Ravens the lead and ice it late in the game.
“I think that the effort and the heart that they played with and the continuity that they played with was really good for the most part and even if we don’t lose (McCree) twice then I still believe with all my heart that even with the turnovers we still win this game,” Buchanan said. “But that’s a hard lesson to learn with a new group and if they take it seriously then we’ll only get better as a group.”
Sophomore guard Kamri Summons led the way for Allen County with 15 points while freshman guard Logan Bonner had 13 points off the bench including a key three and two free throws down the stretch.
The Lady Devils also had to play without starting sophomore guard Katelyn Swanson who injured her knee diving for a loose ball versus Labette earlier in the week.
“She’s irreplaceable,” Buchanan said. “Not only because of her ability to shoot the basketball but she’s just a glue kid. She takes numerous charges and she communicates incredibly well. I thought she was deeply missed and hopefully know early this next week what the exact injury is and get her back sooner rather than later.”
The Lady Devils will try to shake off a three-game losing streak on Wednesday when they travel to Chanute to take on conference rival Neosho County (3-1, 0-1) at 5:30 p.m.
“I feel really good about where we’re at,” Buchanan said. “It doesn’t get any bigger than going into Neosho on Wednesday. If we can take all of that momentum and what we’ve learned and bottle it and take in there I feel good what we’ll accomplish on Wednesday.”
ALLEN COUNTY 64, COFFEYVILLE 68
Individual Scoring
Allen County (64)- Summons 15, Bonner 13, Andrews 8, Verge 7, Shaver 6, Wilson 6, Patterson 4, Seals 2, Pittman 1.
3-pointers- Allen County 3 (Bonner, Summons, Verge).
Meanwhile, the Red Devil men held their own versus the No. 14 Red Ravens but came up short, falling 81-67.
Allen County played without leading scorer and sophomore Jordan Marshall but still found a way to keep it within 10 for a lot of the second half.
Coffeyville came out strong, taking a 13-4 lead but the Devils chipped away and cut their lead to seven, 38-31, at the half.
In the second half, Allen kept chipping away and got plenty of opportunities to jump up and take the lead but poor free throw shooting from the Red Devils made that impossible. Allen County went 21-37 (58.8 percent) from the line while Coffeyville went 28-39 (71.8 percent).
The Red Devils had 4 players reach double figures scoring led by sophomore forward Jacob Patterson and freshman guard Darius Love who each had 12 points. Patterson also grabbed a team-high 7 rebounds. Tyler Williams scored 11 points, and Perry Carroll had 10.
The Red Devils will head to rival Neosho on Wednesday for their 2nd conference matchup. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
ALLEN COUNTY 67, COFFEYVILLE 81
Individual Scoring
Allen County (67)- Love 12, Patterson 12, Williams 11, Carroll 10, Platt 8, Townsend 6, A. Winston 4, C. Winston 3, Clifton 1.
3-pointers- Allen County 6 (Williams 2, Love, Carroll, Platt, Townsend).
PHOTO: Sophomore Lady Devil guard Kamri Summons sets up the offense in Allen County’s 68-64 loss to Coffeyville. REGISTER/TIMOTHY EVERSON
