Four years after she helped bring Riverhead High School’s basketball team to the state’s Final Four for the first time, Shanice Allen is making history again on the college level.
Allen led the scoring during last Friday’s NCAA East Region quarterfinal with 25 points, propelling her team to its first NCAA championship win in school history.
“It’s great to keep putting Riverhead on the map,” said Allen, who is finishing up her junior year at New York Institute of Technology.
With Allen’s help, the NYIT Bears defeated the Philadelphia Rams 88-74 Friday night. The Rams went into the contest three seeds higher than the sixth-seeded Bears.
“I was just really feeling it,” Allen said today. “I knew it was crunch time, and I knew it was going to take all five of us to go as far as we did.”
Allen has earned a reputation for dominating the score board, all the way back to when she was smashing records at Riverhead High School. Allen still holds Riverhead’s all-time girls basketball record for most points scored in a varsity career – 1,414 in total.
She’s been playing at NYIT since last year, when she transferred from Pace University. “Her transition has been pure gold,” said Anthony Crocitto, head women’s basketball coach at NYIT, in an interview last year. “It’s the highest commodity a coach can ask for.”
After their historic win last Friday, the women’s basketball team then went on to win the East Region Championship Saturday, where they were tied for the final minutes of the game before Allen sank a free throw that pushed the team to 70-69. The final score was a 72-69 victory against the second-seeded American International Yellow Jackets.
Though NYIT fell in their first East Region Championship appearance Monday, Allen said that she and her teammates are satisfied with having gotten there in the first place.
“We made it this far, that’s the main thing,” Allen said. “And we’re also returning most of the players next year, so we just keep looking forward.”
The team ended its historic season 79-74 Monday night against the top-seeded Bentley Falcons, but Allen said she’s already anticipating what next year will bring. “We want to make it to the sweet 16, the Elite 8, the Final Four – just keep going up the ladder.”
Back home in Riverhead, where she is visiting for spring break, her family has been overwhelming her with pride and support.
“It’s been so exciting to watch,” said her mother, Kim Allen. “I knew she had it in her. She’s always the one to watch. We’re so proud of her.”
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