Allen Community College coach Todd Buchanan has repeatedly referred to himself and assistant coach Rachel Janzen as “mad scientists” as they go through the season with nine of their 10 available players beginning freshmen as they try to discover which groups work the best together.
“I have tried anything and everything with different lineups to try and find the right mixture and the right five,” Buchanan said. “It just hasn’t happened yet.”
The “science” was on full display during Wednesday’s 68-56 home loss to Barton Community College and as has been the case in so many of the Red Devils’ games, they had mixed results.
The Red Devils started a lineup with Tamera Shaver at point guard, Katelyn Swanson at the other guard, Sequerah Alleyne and Akia Andrews as forwards and sophomore Damonica Franklin as post player.
On Wednesday, that lineup and seemingly every other possible combination was short-lived.
In the first half, Buchanan went with his two point guard look — which has become a staple in the middle of games to press — with Kamri Summons and Shaver. That lineup was fairly successful and forced Barton into nine first-half turnovers, but they also committed 12 turnovers themselves and trailed Barton 31-27 at half.
“We wanted to press and try to create some offense out of defense, because we were really, really struggling from the floor,” Buchanan said. “I don’t know how many easy baskets we missed, but it was way, way too many.”
With Andrews in foul trouble, the coaching staff also tried a lineup with two traditional post players and had Kori Seals join Franklin down low. Franklin struggled throughout the game and although she led the team with 15 points, it took her 17 shots to get her points.
“I have talked to (Franklin) and talked to her, but it gets old just talking about it,” Buchanan said. “It is like I told them, ‘Do you want to talk about it or do you want to be about it.’ Wanting to be about it and doing it is a completely different thing… The bottom line is competing. I don’t feel like we have competed the way we need to the last two games and it is really that simple.”
For a brief moment in the second half — which Allen lost 37-29 — Buchanan even went with a lineup without a traditional point guard on the floor in an effort to flood the floor with shooters. With Kendra Houston at the point and Chelsey Trautloff and Swanson on the wings, the Red Devils struggled to create offense for themselves and struggled on the defensive end with Summons and Shaver being their top two perimeter defenders.
With Franklin’s 15 points and 10 rebounds leading the team, Alleyne added 10 points and Shaver chipped in eight. Summons was the top bench scorer with seven.
After beginning the conference season with a 3-1 record, Allen has now lost two straight.
“We had a little hiatus with Thanksgiving break and now it is like we haven’t come back,” Buchanan said. “We haven’t come back mentally and we haven’t come back physically. We have really struggled the last two games.
“We are into far enough now were I am not buying the young and inexperienced excuses.”
UP NEXT
Allen will travel to Cowley Community College on Saturday for their next game.
