OT cold spell dooms ACC women

Missed opportunities down the stretch proved costly for the Allen Community College women Saturday, and in so doing ended the Red Devils’ season.
The Red Devils scored only two points over the last 10 minutes of their Region VI playoff game against Seward County.
And while Allen’s frenetic defense kept Seward off balance throughout much of the contest, holding the Lady Saints scoreless the last 4:12 of regulation, the Red Devils ran out of steam in overtime.
Seward outscored Allen 15-2 in the extra session to secure a 73-60 win in the opening round of the Region VI playoffs. Seward advances to take on Hutchinson Tuesday in the quarterfinal round. Allen ended its season at 14-17.
“We’re disappointed,” Allen head coach Mark James said. “We felt like we let one get away from us.”
Ebonie Jones’ 3-pointer with 5:06 left in regulation put Allen on top 58-56, before Seward’s Madison McLain responded with a basket less than a minute later to tie the score.
That’s where the score remained as both teams missed multiple opportunities to score down the stretch. Miracle Davis and DaNara Day each missed the front end of 1-and-1 free throw opportunities — Davis twice, including a miss with 2 seconds left in regulation.
That changed in overtime.
Seward’s Ricquia Jones raced in for a basket less than 10 seconds into the overtime to give the Lady Saints the lead for good. The Lady Saints scored the first nine points before Leslie Ware drove for Allen’s final basket of the game. The bucket ended an 8½-minute drought.
“Once we fell behind, we had to start gambling and couldn’t stick with our solid, fundamental defense,” James said. “They were able to capitalize.”
The second half was a far cry from the first. The Red Devils were 8 of 17 from beyond the arc before intermission, opening a 39-33 lead in the process.
Those treys stopped falling after the break. Allen hit only 3 of 18 from beyond the arc in the second half and overtime.
Still, James said his squad had reason to be proud.
“Seward’s a tough team, one of the better teams in the state,” he said. “We had some spurts of really great defense today. These sophomores came in not knowing what to expect, and they gave us something to build on.”
James noted Saturday’s playoff game was the first at home for the Red Devil women in nearly a decade, even though Allen dropped five of six coming into the playoffs.
“We didn’t enter the playoffs like we wanted to, getting a home game because other teams lost, but we’re never going to apologize for that.”
Day led Allen with 22 points, while Ware had 12 points and seven rebounds. Davis added seven rebounds and five assists. Jones also had four assists.
McLain scored 20 points with 11 rebounds to lead Seward. Shanise Brooks added 18 points and Jones had 13.
Seward Co. (33-25-15—73)
Allen (39-19-2—60)
Seward (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Jones 4/1-2-3-13, Blair 1/1-0-1-5, Burns 0/2-0-2-6, Monte 3-0-2-6, Oledzka 2-0-2-4, McLain 7/1-3-0-20, Ryan 0-0-1-0, Brooks 7-4-4-18, Tammen 0-1-3-1. Totals: 24/5-10-26-73.
Allen (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Jones 1/2-0-3-8, Davis 1-2-5-4, Day 3/4-4-4-22, Redmond 0/3-0-0-9, Peel 1-0-2-2, Ware 3/2-0-2-12, Blackwell 1-1-2-3. TOTALS: 10/11-7-18-60.