On Nov. 6, the Lady Devils upset the then 13th-ranked Labette Lady Cardinals at home for their second win of the season.
Just over two months and 13 games later, the Allen County women got their third win with a 69-63 victory over Goodlands Northwest Kansas Technical College at home on Wednesday.
We finished and we executed what we needed to do to win the game and at the end of the day, a win is a win, head coach Rachel Janzen said. We contained the people we needed to contain and executed our game plan. We needed this one so bad. Now we have to build on it.
Northwest Tech came into Wednesdays game winless and seemingly vulnerable to the outside eye but what many didnt know was that over the winter break, the Lady Mavericks finally got sophomore transfer NDea Flye eligible to play after she transferred from the University of New Mexico after her freshman year.
Flye put up 21 and 25 points in her first two games in the Jayhawk Conference and on Wednesday the Lady Devils didnt stop her, but they did slow her a bit, holding the talented transfer to just 19 points to go along with an impressive 14 rebounds.
The Lady Mavericks also brought their moxie and their mouths to the game. The trash talk and physical play started early.
The game plan on the board was to keep our heads, Janzen said. I told them it was going to get chippy and that they were going to talk.
I said that we were going to have to play smart and thats been something weve talked about all year: mentally staying in the game. And thats what they did. They kept their composure.
Allen jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead to start the game and extended that to 16-5 by the end of the quarter before Northwest Tech started to get back into the game.
The Lady Mavs got within 10 and as close as three in the second quarter before the Lady Devils pushed their lead back out to eight heading into halftime.
Tensions started to flair in the third quarter. With Northwest Tech within three, a technical foul was called on a Lady Maverick for shoving an Allen player.
That gave the Lady Devils the boost they needed to push their lead back to 10 and take it as high as 14 by the end of the quarter.
The Lady Mavs were scrappy, though, and wouldnt go away, cutting the Lady Devils lead to six several times before getting as close as five points with a little under two minutes to play.
Key free throws down the stretch held Northwest Tech off and gave the Lady Devils the win.
Sophomore Jakira Wilson led all scorers with 23 followed by the second straight 20-point game from freshman Ariel Walker who has grown into a deadly outside shooter and someone who can slash and score in the paint.
She had no confidence in her shot when she got here, Janzen said. Shes really developed that to where she has such a diverse playing style. She can get to the basket or she can step out and that versatility is always a bonus.
