Brooke Allen looks to become 3-sport record holder

By: 
J. Patrick Eaken

On Dec. 8, Woodmore 6-foot-1 senior post Brooke Allen scored 31 points as the Wildcats’ defeated Northern Buckeye Conference opponent Eastwood, 67-44.

That got her past the 1,000-point career scoring mark, and Woodmore coach Kyle Clair says she is on track to become the girls basketball all-time leading career scorer if she continues her current pace.

The last time a Woodmore girl broke 1,000 points was in the late 1990s, plus Allen has helped Clair get his 50th career win and counting.

This year, Allen scored 23 points in a 56-31 win over Otsego, 26 in a 74-50 loss to Lake, 17 in a 73-34 win over Port Clinton, 29 in a 71-35 win over Fostoria, 18 in a 67-23 win over Gibsonburg and 20 in a 64-31 win over Northwood.

In addition, Allen had a season-high 12 rebounds in the win over Eastwood, 10 against Gibsonburg and Northwood, nine in three other games, and six against PC. She also has 12 steals, four assists, nine three-point goals, and has shot 50 percent or better in every game, except one (46 percent), from inside the arc.

“All facets of her game are really on the upswing right now. Her back to the basket game has been strong going left to right and she’s gotten stronger in the offseason after spending some time in the weight room and her footwork has drastically improved,” Clair said. 

“That has helped her a lot and she’s finishing well around the rim. Her outside game has been tremendous. She’s about 56 percent in two-point field goals and she is close to 40 percent shooting from three, so she’s shooting really well.”

After a 43-36 win over Genoa Tuesday, Woodmore was 7-1 heading into a tough match Saturday hosting Elmwood. Behind the play of six-foot junior Brooklyn Thrash, the Royals are 7-0 and already have wins over Eastwood, 89-76 in overtime, and preseason league favorite Lake, 62-48.

“They are playing really well right now. I think they were picked fourth behind Eastwood,” Clair said. “They are not going to sneak up on anybody anymore. I think they have gotten everybody’s attention.”

Allen was looking forward to the encounter with Thrash and her teammates. Woodmore, picked second in the preseason coaches’ poll, already learned one lesson when league favorite Lake defeated them by 24 points, but they bounced back with the double-digit win over Eastwood, picked third.

“We are so excited. I’m friends with Brooklyn, too, so that is going to be an exciting night. We’re hoping to compete for a league title,” Allen said. “The Lake loss was a heartbreaker to us, but it was a humbling opportunity so early in the season. We talked to the team, saying that we’d rather have something like that happen early rather than late in the season, just because we have more time to learn from it and grow.”

Clair added, “It was definitely a good bounce-back game for us against Eastwood. We played well at Otsego. The Lake game we had a great first half and then it was one of those things where nothing was going right for you. Lake is a great team, and they took advantage of it. All of our goals are still within reach. We’ve just got to keep playing together and not let those mental lapses happen.”

Beyond the NBC, Woodmore is looking forward to the tournament, too, and for good reason. Last year, four NBC teams reached the Division III district tournament at Anthony Wayne, but Woodmore will not be a part of that this year, no matter what.

“So, we really want a league championship, but looking to the postseason we dropped to Division IV,” Allen said. “So, our whole league is Division III and Rossford is Division II, so us being Division IV we’re playing a lot of upper-level competition that is going to help us prepare for the tournament really well, so we’re hoping for a long tournament run, too. We’re super excited. 

“I know Toledo Christian and a few other schools are out there that we are just looking forward to playing — different teams. Our tournament for Division III has always been the Northern Buckeye Conference, and it is always on the same side (of district bracket). We are looking forward to playing new teams other than just our league teams for tournament.”

Clair added, “If you talk to other coaches as well, I’d think they tell you the same thing — we have one of the top leagues in the area. It is physical and there are a lot of great coaches and great players here. It is definitely good preparation for us the first year that I’ve been here that we are D-IV. We are usually in that All-NBC sectional and district. But there is definitely some good basketball down there (D-IV), too.”

 

Collegiate aspirations

Clair says a couple NCAA Division II schools are interested in Allen, but she has not made any decision yet but will play at the next level.

To hear from a first-hand witness about how her game has developed, ask her twin brother Hunter, a 6-4 starting forward on the Woodmore boys team.

“Her freshman year wasn’t exactly the same as her senior year, I’ll tell you that for one thing,” Hunter said. “When Brooke first started playing her basketball career, it was definitely a lot slower than it is now. Her freshman year she had a pretty good season, but I think she probably could have had a little bit better season — a lot of missed bunnies, that is for sure. But through her career she has put in tons of effort and work and just really improved her game.”

Clair says Brooke’s game is coming together her senior year in more ways than one.

“She is one of our captains this year and her leadership has been tremendous as well. That is something that I appreciate as a coach every day in practice and in games and in the locker room, so she’s doing really well,” Clair said.

However, records are no stranger to Brooke. She has played varsity in all three sports, volleyball, basketball, and softball, since her freshman year, and she is a record-holder in all three.

“We’ll see what happens with basketball. I’m super excited. I just want us to have a super successful season and to get everything in, I think, is the most important part,” Brooke said.

Brooke could not only break the all-time girls scoring record of 1,210 points held by Lori Kuhlman, she is on pace to break the career rebounding record. However, the Wildcats may have to get a full season in for that to happen.  

Brooke also holds three volleyball records at Woodmore — career kills, career aces, and season aces.  All records were earned with only three years of stats because none were kept her freshman year.  She was honorable mention All-NBC in her freshman, sophomore and junior seasons and second team as a senior.  

She was a pivotal piece for Woodmore volleyball’s turnaround as their season wins for each year were 0, 3, 8, and 12. The Wildcats won a sectional title this year and were knocked out by eventual state champion Tiffin Calvert. She was second team All-District 7 for volleyball.

Brooke also holds two softball records at Woodmore — career home runs (9) and season home runs (5). She set the season home run record as a freshman, added to it as a sophomore, but her junior season was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. She was HM All-NBC both seasons.

Brooke has a 4.15 GPA, is class treasurer, a National Honor Society member, and involved in Key Club, Spanish Club, among other activities. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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