If one thing has emerged from the young 2023 basketball season, it’s that Allen Community College’s women have the potential to make some serious noise in the Jayhawk Conference.
“But that’s the thing,” ACC head coach Leslie Crane said. “Potential and a buck will get you a cup of coffee.”
Allen capped a spotless weekend at the Red Devil Classic, fending off Mid America Nazarene, 61-51, on Friday before steamrolling Kansas Wesleyan 88-61 on Saturday.
The wins pushed Allen to 5-0 on the season, with the 10-point win over MidAmerica Nazarene the closest of the bunch.
Still, Crane sees room for improvement.
“We had a good test with MidAmerica,” she said. “We didn’t play very well, but we did the things necessary to win. It was a win, but it didn’t really feel like a win.”
That changed on Saturday, when Allen scored the game’s first nine points, forcing a shot clock violation on Kansas Wesleyan’s first possession of the game.
Then, after Allen’s only real lull of the night, the visiting Coyotes embarked on a 9-2 run to take an 11-10 lead.
Allen responded in dominating fashion, outscoring Kansas Wesleyan 42-8 over the rest of the first half.
The Red Devils received contributions from up and down the lineup, with only one player, Khamille Warr, playing more than 25 minutes.
She went 8 of 11 from the field to score a game-high 22 points to go with five assists. Starting guard Noa Muranaka was perfect from the field, going 7 of 7, including both of her 3-point attempts, to score 16. Kelsie Lantz scored nine and Sarang West had eight.
Sara Otiz led with 10 rebounds. Allen out-rebounded Kansas Wesleyan 43 to 19 and limited the Coyotes to 26% shooting from the field.
“We out-rebounded them, which led to extra shots,” Crane said. “On Friday, we didn’t share the ball that well. Tonight, we did a much better job of getting in the flow, which all came from our defense and rebounding.
“I’m proud of the kids for their effort.”
Khassidy Warr led the Allen contingent on Friday, scoring 12 points and pulling down 14 rebounds. Khamille Warr followed with 16 points and seven boards. Muranaka added seven points and four assists.
Allen continued its frenetic start to the season with a home game Monday against Bethany. Results from that game will be in Wednesday’s Register.
Friday
Mid-America Nazarene 8-17-12-14—51
