When Riverhead’s Shanice Allen made the decision to transfer to NYIT, she figured it would be a better environment for her to succeed. How well she would do was going to depend on how hard she would work.
“When a transfer comes into a new program, you never know what you’re going to get,” NYIT women’s head basketball coach Anthony Crocitto said. “I didn’t know what to expect with Shanice because I didn’t have a real good relationship with her out of high school or AAU.”
Only being a sophomore transfer, there’s always somewhat of a tough transition expected to get acclimated with new surroundings but that hasn’t been the case with Allen. She earned a starting spot in the lineup very quickly and shortly thereafter began producing at a high level — a level that her coach had little idea she was capable of.
“Her transition has been pure gold,” Crocitto said. “It’s the highest commodity a coach can ask for. She’s been a dream and her character, academics and work ethic all fit in with what we already had so there wasn’t really a transition.”
After a slow start to the season as she got her feet wet, Allen started lighting up the scoreboard scoring as many as 30 points in a game against Dowling College on Dec 17.
“Before playing Dowling, I was looking to shoot the three more,” Allen said. “So I started driving to the hoop more often. I realized I was getting to the basket with ease which made me develop a more attacking mindset in later games.”
Allen then scored 17 points, 28 points and 27 points in the next three games while shooting 56 percent from the field. On the season, she leads the team in points-per-game with 16.2.
“We have a lot of dominant scorers on the floor at all times so it’s not easy for other teams to stop all of us,” Allen said. “I’ve just been taking it game by game.”
“We shoot the ball a lot, we drive the ball a lot and we score the ball a lot so any kid up to speed that comes into a system where the team is scoring 75 points a game and playing fast will be happy and fit right in,” Crocitto said.
NYIT is now 8-2 in the conference and 13-4 overall.
“Shanice has had some first team All-Conference games this year,” Crocitto said. “She’s certainly put herself into conversations for All-Conference midway through the year.”
Allen’s numbers have dipped a bit in the past few games but it’s expected as teams get to start to key in on her.
“They have been keying in on me a little bit,” Allen said. “But my shot has been a little off too. The shots are there, I just have to hit them when I’m open. I have to get in the gym and tone it up.”
But aside from her scoring, Crocitto said her defense has improved tremendously since she first stepped on the court at NYIT.
“She’s consistently guarding a top player on the other team,” he said.
It’s a challenge that Allen loves take every game.
“There’s nothing like the challenge of trying to stop the other team’s best player,” Allen said. “I’ve been doing that the past few games and think I’ve done a pretty good job.”
What’s the ceiling for a sophomore like Allen?
“Her ceiling is All-Met player of the year,” Crocitto said. “She has three years to do so. It’s probably the highest honor a player could reach for. She has the upside for some stronger accolades and I really don’t want to get into the All-American and All-Met but she has the upside to play this game at a very high level.”
Photo credit: NYIT Athletics/Ballweg
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