CHANUTE — The Allen Community College Red Devils avenged an early loss while playing the Homecoming spoiler to Neosho Community College with a 73-64 victory Wednesday night.
Sitting in second place and looking to alleviate any debate in the event Neosho falls to Kansas City Kansas Community College next weekend and forces a two-way tie for second place, the Red Devils sought to rout Neosho Wednesday, but Neosho fought back to cut Allen’s lead to single digits before the final whistle.
“This was the type of game where you have high turnovers,” Allen coach Leslie Crane said. “They had 17 and we had 20, but we out-rebounded them 52-39 and that is a dominating performance right there. When you dominate in that situation, and you control the ball by rebounding, you control the game.”
Allen sophomore center Yolaine Luthi did most of her damage in the first half while scoring a team-leading 26 points. With 20 points or more in the first three quarters, the Red Devils boasted a 24-point advantage before the fourth quarter.
That’s when Neosho went on a 22-9 run. Even so, it was not enough to overcome the deficit the Panthers had created in the first three quarters.
“In a game like this, you have to go and score and shoot the layups. We did that, but we missed a couple,” Crane said. “We got easy layups and ran the ball well. We handled their press well. We used our heads and played smart. We didn’t really run sets of any kind. We just played basketball. Get a player open and go to the hole with it. It’s a little unorthodox way of playing, but sometimes you have to do that.”
ACC freshman forward Joniya Lewis had a double-double with 11 points and a team-leading 14 rebounds. Freshman guard Jennyfer Gros tied sophomore guard Tawhirikura Doyle for the most assists with four each. Gros also posted 10 points. Doyle had eight points and three steals.
“Yolaine played her butt off tonight, and 14 rebounds is huge for Joniya,” Coach Crane said. “Jennyfer had 10, which is high for her, and she had a nice game tonight.”
With the win, the Red Devils improved to 15-8 overall and 7-3 in the Jayhawk Conference for third place. Neosho fell to 17-9 overall and 7-2 in conference play. The Red Devils next face top-ranked and undefeated Johnson County Community College (28-0, 10-0) Wednesday.
With a weekend bye, and having successfully knocked off arch-rival Neosho Wednesday, Coach Crane said she wants to celebrate her most recent win a little longer before focusing on taking on a giant in JCCC at home next week.
“I’m not thinking about that. I’m enjoying this until midnight, then I’ll start thinking about next week,” Crane said. “We’re going to take a breath here, relax a little bit, then start preparing for Johnson County Sunday.”
