The 2016-17 Red Devil women’s basketball team is starting to come together.
On Wednesday, the Red Devils faced nearly every kind of adversity one can imagine in a basketball game, but still came out on top with a 77-73 overtime win.
Their star player — Tamera Shaver — struggled mightily shooting the ball. The freshman point guard was just 3-of-15 from the field and 0-of-10 from behind the arc.
Their opponent — Neosho County Community College — had their star player going off. Ki’asha Harris was 9-of-14 in the first half and had 24 points by intermission.
Then when Allen thought they finally had a three-point victory in hand, NCC — who was 2-of-18 behind the arc up to that point — hit a desperation triple in the final 10 seconds of the game.
It just felt like a game that a team made up of nine freshmen should lose, but the Red Devils weren’t having any of that. Instead they took the game into overtime and beat their arch-rivals 77-73.
“She hit the three and we just wanted to keep our spirits high and keep going after it, because there was no way we were going to lose this game,” Allen freshman guard Chelsey Trautloff said. “Our hearts were in it. We went into overtime saying that it was time to show our heart. This is what it is about.”
Despite her poor shooting, Shaver took the defensive assignment on Harris in the second half and held her 3-for-7 with nine points.
“I just figured that I better do everything in my power to stop her,” Shaver said. “She went into half with 24, so when Coach told me to lock-up on 22 (Harris), I knew that is what I needed to try to do and I tried my best.
“When I struggle, I know as the point guard I have to do everything I can to get my teammates open and get them the ball especially if they are hot, because I want to make sure I keep that going.”
On Wednesday, there wasn’t much doubt who that “hot” player was.
Trautloff, who has fallen nearly out of Buchanan’s rotation in recent games because of a prolonged shooting slump, finally had the big game that her teammates knew she was capable of.
“She has been in a pretty bad slump lately, but she came in and she was like, ‘You know what, this is my game,’ and she gave us that spark we needed,” Shaver said.
Trautloff scored a team-high 17 points and hit five three-pointers, including three-straight in the first half to get Allen into the lead.
“The bench was up, the team was up and spirits were high,” Trautloff said of her spurt. “To get (Neosho County) was definitely a goal of ours and I was glad to be a part of it… My shot was hot so I just kept going.”
The biggest shot from deep came with 2:13 left to go in overtime to give her team a 71-69 advantage.
The Panthers never led again as two Sequerah Alleyne free throws and four Shaver free throws sealed the game and gave the young Devils their first conference win of the season.
“We were questioning ourselves a little bit, but tonight we found out who we are and how good we can be,” Trautloff said. “We just need to keep building that confidence up.”
The Red Devils finished with six players in double-figures. In addition to Trautloff’s 17, Shaver had 12 points, Katelyn Swanson had 11 and Damonica Franklin, Alleyne, and Kendra Houston each had 10 points. Franklin had a double-double with 11 rebounds.
UP NEXT
The Red Devils hit the road on Saturday when they take on Colby Community College at 4 p.m.
