It took Allen Community College’s women about five minutes to build a double-digit lead Saturday and another five to push that lead to 20 over visiting Central Christian College.
The Red Devils never looked back, forcing 19 first half turnovers and outrebounding the visiting Tigers 66 to 49.
Even shooting struggles weren’t nearly enough to derail the Red Devil train as Allen secured a 92-32 victory, the team’s third victory in a row.
Head coach Mark James pointed to Allen’s defense.
“That’s our key today,” he said. “I mean, we haven’t been bad defensively, but we haven’t been as good as we’re capable of being. Today we wanted to focus and buckle down on defense, and I thought we did that.”
The dust had barely settled and the Red Devils held a 10-0 lead. The score was 24-4 by the 10-minute mark of the first half and 51-13 at the break.
The margin allowed James to substitute liberally throughout the contest. Every one of Allen’s players registered at least 9 1/2 minutes of court time, while only one player — reserve Ebonie Jones — registered more than 20 minutes. Thirteen of the 14 Red Devil players also scored points in the victory.
“It was big for us,” James said. “We’re pretty deep — one of the deeper teams in the conference and we don’t have a big dropoff when we go from our starters to our reserves.
“It’s a nice luxury to have, but sometimes it can be tough to get everybody as much playing time as you want,” he continued. “But there are only so many minutes in a game. It was nice to get the lead early, and they never dropped off.”
DaNara Day led the way with 20 points — 17 in the first half — followed by Jamie Peel with 15 and eight rebounds and Kylie Molisee with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Jones added six assists and five steals. Kendra Taiclet registered four steals.
The Red Devils wound up forcing 28 Central College turnovers in the game.
While Allen struggled from 3-point range, hitting only 10 of 45 treys for 22 percent, James still found positives.
“It’s a little disappointing, but it’s nothing to be concerned about,” he said. “It wasn’t anything they did to us. The shots just weren’t falling. We’re gonna shoot the ball better.”
Gabbie Salazar and Natalie Johnson scored seven points each to pace the Tigers.
The Red Devils (6-4) host Pratt at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Central Christian (13-19—32)
Allen (51-41 — 92)
Central Christian (FG-FT-F-TP): Salazar 2-3-1-7, Johnson 2-3-3-7, Richard 1-1-1-3, Fairchild 2-1-1-5, Curtis 1-1-3-3, Alderson 2-1-3-5, Metz 0-0-2-0, Jameson 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 11-10-15-32.
Allen (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Jones 0/1-0-2-3, Saulsberry 0-0-1-0, Davis 2-0-0-4, Morton 3-2-0-8, Day 3/4-2-0-20, Flanigan 1-0-0-2, Redmond 0/2-0-1-6, Peel 3/1-6-3-15, Taiclet 1/1-0-1-5, Ware 2-0-1-4, Seward 1-0-1-2, Blackwell 0/1-0-0-3, Hall 30-3-6, Molisee 6-2-3-14. TOTALS: 25/10-12-18-92.
Red Devil women win in romp
