When Khamille and Khassidy Warr paid their first visit to Allen Community College on a brisk February evening in 2022, they didn’t realize they were about to witness history.
The twin sisters were in town on a recruiting trip to watch the Red Devils take on Jayhawk Conference rival Kansas City Kansas.
Allen, which was coming off a one-win season the year prior, had shown marked improvement under first-year head coach Leslie Crane.
That improvement was evident as Allen, which had lost to that same KCK squad three weeks earlier, broke open a small lead to pull home a nine-point win.
Why the celebration?
It was Allen’s 10th win of the year.
“I don’t think they realized how big of a deal that was,” Crane laughed. “It was huge.”
It marked the first time Allen had reached double digits in victories since ACC went 16-15 in 2015. You had to go back nearly another decade to find Allen’s last winning season before that in 2006.
“It had been a while,” Crane said.
Truth be told, Allen could have lost by 30 that evening, and it wouldn’t have changed their minds, the sisters admitted.
Allen’s past struggles mattered not a whit to the Warrs, who knew as soon as they stepped on campus they had found the right fit.
“It was an easy decision,” said Khamille, called Koko by her coaches and teammates. “She was one of the only coaches to get to us early and stayed in touch.”
“Most coaches can be hard, but Coach Crane brings the energy and expects big things,” noted Khassidy, who goes by KJ. “One way or another she will pull it out of you.”
Fast forward two years, and the Warrs are vital components to the 2023-24 Red Devils, who are in the upper echelon of the Jayhawk Conference standings. At 17-4, it marks Allen’s winningest season since ACC went 19-13 in 2006.
And this week marked the first time all season Allen, ranked 19th, has garnered a spot in NJCAA Division II Women’s Top 20.
