The Allen Red Devils won a landslide victory over Highland Community College 73-35.
Beating a team three times is not easy, but having the final two contests back-to-back, dramatically raised the stakes for Tuesday’s playoff contest.
The women were up to the challenge.
“It was a difficult situation, and the first half showed that too, especially in the first quarter,” Allen coach Leslie Crane said.
“We were a little tight, and we knew we wanted to win and they were going to give us a big push, but in the second quarter we broke away.”
Highland came out of the gate swinging, trailing 13-12 after the first quarter before the Red Devils tamped down the Lady Scotts.
Freshman forward Joniya Lewis kick-started a 22-8 run with a pair of jumpers and a putback.
Sophomore guard Juana Rojas poured gasoline on the slowly simmering fire with a 3-pointer and a running jumper as Allen took control from there.
“In the third quarter, we did a nice job of getting after it,” Coach Crane said. “We played hard, did some good things and ran the floor really well. It was a team effort. We had guards in there rebounding as well. They got in there and got a lot done.”
Outrebounding Highland by 25 boards, Allen did not need much theatrics to advance to Friday’s Plains District Tournament.
Ahead by 15 points, they relied on their size in the paint with sophomore Jalynn Weakley coming off the bench to do the majority of her team-leading 14 points of damage in the second half. As the postseason continues, and injuries mount from prolonged play, Crane was delighted to see so much production from her younger players.
Although Weakley was Tuesday’s scoring leader, it was not by much. Four players reached double-digits with Lewis nearly having a double-double on 11 points and seven rebounds.
Sophomore guard Nikki Gear came off the bench to tie Tawhirikura Doyle’s 10 points. 
One of the more astounding statistics from Tuesday was speedster guard Karizma Johnson coming off the bench for an astounding 14 rebounds.
“She was getting in there and getting after it, which was nice to see,” Coach Crane said. “She did some good things. The kids know their roles and have accepted their roles on the team and what they’re doing.”
With the win, the Red Devils improved their record to 17-9.
