“I would have never imagined me coming up as an 8th grader then me leaving with a broken record — that was never in my mindset . . .” said Riverhead High School basketball star Shanice Allen. “But it just proves that anything is possible.”
Allen earned All-County honors for the third consecutive year at the Suffolk County Basketball Coaches Association awards dinner last Tuesday night at Villa Lombardi’s in Holbrook. But the senior didn’t just walk away with one award. She walked away with four: All-League, All-County, League III MVP, and a selection to the Newsday MSG Varsity All-Long Island basketball team.
Three other players received honors:
Naysha Trent (senior) – All-League, All-County
Jocelyn Zaneski (senior) – Chris Colmer Cares Scholarship, S.C.B.C.A Senior Scholarship
Sam Dunn (freshman) – All-League
“It’s pretty exciting,” said Allen, smiling. “It’s been a long road.”
At just seven years old, Allen started playing minicamps with volunteer varsity girls basketball coach Jim Janecek. He saw something in her game and decided to bring her up to play with the older age group that had players as old as 16. After two years of training, Allen was ready for organized hoops.
At age 10, Allen started to play CYO and AAU leagues. She played for locally based St. John’s in the CYO league and for the Long Island Pride travel basketball team based out of Southampton for AAU.
“My dad was good friends with a guy in Southampton, whose daughter played for the Pride,” said Allen. “They needed extra players so they asked me to try out. They placed me on their “A” team. That’s basically how it started.”
It was the beginning of an illustrious career.
In middle school, after she tried out for the basketball team, Allen was moved up to the 8th grade squad. Her play caught the eye of Dave Spinella, the girls varsity basketball coach. And following the season, Spinella reached out to Allen’s father.
“He wanted me to play for the varsity summer league team,” said Allen. “He told my dad that I was pretty good and should come work out with the team and see how I do.”
“My dad was a little hesitant at first, because it was varsity and I was still in 8th grade,” she said.
But he knew it wasn’t his decision to make.
“He told me, well if you go, give it your all and see if you like it and if you do, we’ll go from there,” Allen said.
Allen decided to play. And after playing the summer league, she earned herself a spot on the varsity team the upcoming school year. She thought being among older, more experienced players would be a tough transition, mentally and physically. But it didn’t play out that way.
Raw talent is the explanation, according to her varsity coach of five years.
“She’s the most talented player I have ever had a pleasure to coach,” Spinella admitted after last week’s awards night. “No big ego, selfless . . . it’s sad to see her go.”
“I felt like I fit, said Allen. “Like it was a perfect fit. Nothing was too hard but nothing too easy either. It was a step above anything else I’d done before but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.”
Her teammates helped with the early transition.
“Everyone accepted me, they never got mad and always helped. They would forget that I was in eighth grade,” Allen said.
She was quick to earn a spot in the starting lineup — the third game of the season — and it was a spot she would never relinquish. With Allen on the roster, the girls varsity basketball team made the playoffs every single year. But no playoff run was more memorable than her junior year when the Blue Waves won the Long Island championship last year — a first in Riverhead’s history. The only other title the girls basketball team had ever won was a Suffolk County Class B crown in 1984.
“That experience was one of the best experiences of my life,” said Allen. “I’ve never experienced anything so intense as far as basketball goes. It was so exciting, so overwhelming. We made history. I will be able to look back 30 or 40 years from now and say I was a part of that team. If my kids end up going to Riverhead, they will be able to see what I was able to accomplish. I feel like I will have a piece of me in Riverhead — forever.”
During that magical year, Allen reached the 1,000-point plateau in the Suffolk County AA final win over Hauppauge. And at that point, she knew.
“I could make history,” Allen said. “Even more than I already did. I still had one more year to go.”
She was really close to breaking Riverhead’s all-time scoring record, 1,195 points, set in 1991 by Felecia Hobson.
The summer before Allen’s senior year, she was offered full scholarships from Pace University and The College of St. Rose.
“I visited St. Rose and I liked it,” said Allen. “But too far, too cold.”
Pace was in contact with Allen since 10th grade. After Spinella sent an email to the head coach at Pace asking to come see her play, they began to contact Allen once every three weeks. The longtime recruitment eventually lured her to sign on with the Setters. Allen will play the shooting guard is expected to get significant playing time freshman year.
Allen said that her AAU coach, Greg Flynn, was also instrumental in getting her looks.
“For the Long Island Lightning, I played in tournaments all around the country,” Alle said. “Places like Tennessee, Chicago, and Virginia. Virginia was toughest, those girls could play.”
Allen broke the scoring record on Jan. 3, in the 8th game of her senior season during a 36-point effort against Centereach. She averaged 21.2 points per game in her final season as a Blue Wave.
“Everything just stopped,” said Allen. “They made an announcement on the loudspeaker that I broke the record, and Spin handed me the game ball.” Allen then gave the ball to her father, Willie.
“My father means the world to me,” said Allen. “He’s been there for me since the start.
Allen finished her career with 1,414 career points, the new record.
Would you be sad to see your record broken?
“I wouldn’t be sad because I know as a person, I have set high accomplishments. If someone breaks my record, that’s great. But I am on top now. When they break it, they’ll be on top. But I think I’ll hold it for awhile. Felecia held it for 22 years.”
Allen met Hobson on Jan. 17, when the former record-holder, who now lives in Maryland, made a surprise pre-game visit to the Riverhead gym. See story: “Good for a generation: 1,195 pts.”
Allen said seventh-grader Kim Liggon, who made her varsity debut this season, has a shot at the record.
“She has the ability to,” Allen said. “If she keeps working on her game, I think she could do it. She got a little varsity experience this year and for the years to come, it will be her time.”
“Once her mind develops into that basketball state, I think she will be really good.”
Allen’s career begs the question: Do you think you can make it to the WNBA?
The question could have just as easily been: Can you make the varsity team? Or, can you become a champion? Or, can you get a scholarship?
And she’d have the same answer:
“Anything’s possible.” Allen’s face lights up with a wide smile at the thought. “I would be paid to do something I love, so why not? If not I’ll have something to fall back on.”
Her fall-back option? Become an anesthesiologist, a position that requires at least eight years of schooling.
“If you think about it, the eight years are going to go by regardless,” Allen said. “So you might as well go and study what you really want to do.”
At Pace, Allen said, she expects to do well, “finish my four years with good grades and hopefully go on to medical school.”
“Whatever else happens,” she adds, “happens.”
Photo captions, from top: 1. Shanice Allen executes a layup in the Waves January 2012 win (their eighth consecutive) against North Babylon. RiverheadLOCAL photo by George Faella. 2. Shanice Allen with teammate and friend Naysha Trent this week. RiverheadLOCAL photo by Michael Hejmej. 3. Shanice Allen with her parents, Kim and Willie Allen, on the day she signed with Pace University. RiverheadLOCAL photo by Sandra Kolbo, courtesy of Riverhead Central School District. 4. Shanice Allen, Blue Waves girls all-time scoring leader, meets former record holder Felecia Hobson on Jan. 17. With Coach Dave Spinella. RiverheadLOCAL photo by Denise Civiletti.
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