As the weather heated up over the past several days, the Allen basketball and softball teams headed south.
The Red Devil basketball men and womens trip was relatively short, just 20 minutes south to Chanute to take on rival Neosho County on Saturday before heading west to face Barton County while the Lady Devil softball team crossed a couple of state lines on their way to the season-opening Cowtown Classic tournament in Fort Worth over the weekend.
Mens and womens basketball continued their downward trend, falling to Neosho 85-77 and 91-62 and Barton 98-78 and 104-46. The losses extended both teams losing skids to seven games. The Allen men move to 12-11 overall and 4-10 in KJCCC play while the women fall to 3-21 and 1-13.
The Red Devil men trailed by just five at the half before Neosho took control of the game, leading by as much as 20. A frantic run in the last 10 minutes cut the Panthers lead to as little as three in the closing minutes but Allen couldnt get over the final hump.
Freshman Malik Hardmon had 19 followed by 18 for sophomore Darius Love, 12 for freshman Trez Hankins and 11 for sophomore Perry Carroll. Love and Hardmon each had double-doubles after grabbing 10 and 12 rebounds each.
The Lady Devils fall came in fits and spurts.
After trailing by just three points after a quarter, a 26-12 second quarter pushed that lead to 17 at the half for Neosho.
Another seven points in the third quarter and six in the fourth pushed the lead nearly to 30 by games end.
Freshman Ariel Walker had 13 followed by 12 for freshman Paige Jensen and 10 each for sophomore Jakira Wilson and freshman Gabby Guzman.
IT WAS A SIMILAR result for the Red Devils versus Barton but in some ways it was significantly worse.
The Red Devil men were behind by 20 points at halftime and despite a 43-43 second half, couldnt muster enough firepower to get any closer by games end.
The Cougars vastly outshot Allen, 61.5 percent to 28.9 percent. The Red Devils were also outrebounded 41-29.
Sophomores Darius Love and Perry Carroll both had solid offensive nights, scoring 24 and 20 apiece followed by 14 points off the bench for sophomore Jamaal Clifton. No other Red Devil scored more than five.
Freshman Malik Hardmon led Allen in rebounding with six boards.
While the Lady Devils got off to a strong start but fell apart late in the game against Neosho, it was the exact opposite versus Barton.
The Lady Cougars grabbed a 24-4 lead after the first quarter and kept the momentum throughout the final three quarters. The Allen women were outscored by at least eight in every quarter following.
