OLATHE — The Allen Community College women’s basketball team’s season ended at the KJCCC Tournament championship game against Johnson County Saturday.
The Lady Red Devils (19-12) knocked off Kansas City Kansas Community College in the final minute of the tournament semifinal game, 56-53. Noa Muranaka hit a go-ahead free throw with 10 seconds left for Allen to advance to the championship game.
Friday
Allen won their semifinal matchup against Kansas City in a few main areas on the floor which included shooting, hitting 36.6% of shots from the floor, as well as out-rebounding the Blue Devils, 41-32, for a three-point thrilling playoff win.
The Lady Red Devils went down in the opening minutes but a Clara Romero layup with three minutes left in the first quarter gave Allen a 5-4 lead. Kansas City then went on a 7-3 scoring run to close the first quarter, led by a Trinity McDow three for a 12-7 deficit for Allen.
Shade Richardson and Naomi Smith each hit two-point jumpers in the opening minutes of the second quarter to bring the deficit within two points, 15-13. Kansas City then stretched their lead back to six a couple of times before halftime, mainly with the help of a Lacy Whitcomb three.
Allen trailed Kansas City at halftime, 24-18.
The Lady Devils kept the deficit within single digits when KCKCC’s Rebecca Christodoulou nailed a three-pointer to go ahead by nine with four minutes left in the third, 34-25. Khassidy Warr then put up three straight layups to bring the Allen deficit back to four, 37-33.
Britney Schroer posted a layup and brought the score within three a couple minutes into the fourth, 40-37. Romero then hit a couple free throws to bring Allen back within two points a minute later, 42-40.
Allen took the lead when Warr hit a three with four minutes left for the 45-44 advantage.
After Kansas City took their final lead of the day, 48-46 with two minutes left, Muranaka immediately hit a go-ahead three and Romero drew a foul for a pair of free throws and the 52-48 lead with 15 seconds left in the game.
Muranaka and Smith were each fouled and hit their free throws for the 56-53 win.
A trio of scorers led Allen offensively with 11 points in Schroer, Romero and Warr. Muranaka added seven points and Richardson and Smith each collected a team-high nine rebounds.
Saturday
Allen was outmuscled on the boards and struggled to hit shots for much of their game against Johnson County in a lopsided 77-43 blunder.
The Lady Red Devils shot the ball at a meagerly 25.9% clip as opposed to Johnson’s 50% shooting from the floor. Allen shooters knocked down only three-of-16 shots from the perimeter for a 18.8% mark while Johnson shot the three-ball at a 41.7% mark.
Johnson outrebounded the Lady Red Devils, 55-22.
Sara Ortiz had a team-high four rebounds for Allen while Smith and Warr each grabbed three. 43 of the Cavaliers’ 55 rebounds came defensively and Allen managed only six offensive rebounds the entire game.
