Red Devil women down Eagles

Allen Community College’s women took out some aggression on the basketball court Wednesday evening.
It paid off with a victory.
The Red Devils led nearly from start to finish, downing visiting Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s junior varsity, 73-59.
The victory snapped a four-game losing streak for Allen (5-6).
“It feels good to get a win,” ACC head coach Katie Mahoney said. “We needed that. Everybody needed that.”
One night after voicing her displeasure about Allen’s lack of aggression in a loss to Fort Scott, the Red Devils answered the call from the opening tip against Oklahoma Wesleyan.
With point guard Nicole Salazar repeatedly finding openings in the Eagle defense, Allen jumped to a 24-16 lead. Salazar assists led to a pair of Kylie Molisee buckets in the last 1:33 of the first half to open a 31-24 advantage.
“We wanted to be aggressive and not sit back,” Mahoney said. “We wanted to put a little pressure on them.”
The pressure stayed past intermission. Allen held the Eagles without a field goal for nearly eight minutes in one stretch, pushing the lead to 20, 55-35, on O’ceonna Weston’s free throw with 6:19 remaining.
The Eagles pulled as close as 10, but the Red Devils hit 7 of 8 free throws over the final 1:38 to stay safely in control.
Salazar led the way with 22 points and seven rebounds, while Molisee scored 17 points with 16 rebounds. Weston chipped in with 16 points and six boards.
The Red Devils have come to rely on Salazar to control the action outside and Molisee on the inside, Mahoney said. Getting Weston involved will aid the team because she is capable of playing either inside or outside.
“O’ceonna is so versatile, she can score inside or get a rebound,” Mahoney said. “Yet, she can also hit a 3-pointer. Having three scorers is better than two.”
Erin Burch came off the bench to score 16 to pace Oklahoma Wesleyan, which shot a cold 31 percent from the floor. The Eagles hit only 7 of 32 3-pointers and 8 of 19 free throws.
The Red Devils shot 40 percent from the field, 30 percent (6 of 20) from 3-point range and made 21 of 31 (68 percent) free throws.
Allen hits the road Saturday for a game at Hesston. A home game Monday evening against Ottawa University’s junior varsity follows.
Oklahoma Wesleyan JV (24-35—59)
Allen (31-42—73)
Oklahoma Wesleyan (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Dyer 0/1-0-0-3, Richard 0/1-1-1-4, Burch 5/2-0-2-16, Vogt 0-0-3-0, Saunier 2/1-1-3-8, Cordova 0-0-2-0, Owen 2/1-0-1-7, Crow 0-2-1-2, Mendoza 2-1-2-5, Ellis 2-2-3-6, Sebur 0/1-0-1-3, Olsen 2-1-4-5. TOTALS: 15/7-8-23-59.
Allen (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Salazar 1/4-8-1-22, Hancock 0-0-1-0, Fisher 0/2-0-3-6, Molisee 7-3-3-17, Shelton 2-4-2-8, Winter 0-0-2-0, Weston 6-4-2-16, McClellan 0-0-2-0, Cleaver 1-0-0-2, Stevens 0-2-1-2. TOTALS: 17/6-21-17-73.