New and Improved – Buckeye Ashley Allen Uses Experience, Hard Work to Return from Injury – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/6/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The game of basketball has given Ashley Allen many things. Among them, the Ohio State junior guard says even those experiences she did not want have helped her grow as a person.
Allen takes the good with the bad and keeps on playing. The good, which dominates what basketball has given her, includes a list of items that at first may seem unrelated. A chess partner, an education in a high-tech field and frequent traveling are just a few of those items that make this 5-foot-9-inch sharp-shooter happy to be a Buckeye whether she is on the court at Value City Arena or not.
The only entry on Allen’s list of undesirable items basketball has given her has kept her off the court to begin the 2003-04 season. A knee injury suffered in last season’s loss at Illinois cost her the final seven games of the 2002-03 season and has kept her on the sideline to begin this season.
Expect Allen back on the court soon, though, and when she does return she will bring with her a smarter, more efficient game.
“By sitting out, I have really picked up the mental aspect of the game,” Allen said. “I have seen things a little more off the court than what I was seeing on the court. Coming off an injury you have to be mentally tougher, so that is my focus now.”
Six months of rehabilitation have not dampened the drive of Allen, who was averaging 8.5 points and 3.2 rebounds last season prior to her injury. Her 37 steals were good enough to rank fourth on the team in the final season statistics and her ability to shoot from long range has allowed her to already crack the Ohio State career Top 10 lists for 3-pointers made and attempted and 3-point percentage. Her 32 treys last season were second-most on the squad, as were her 91 assists.
“I’m pushing and trying to get healthy,” Allen said. “I’m really advancing right now so hopefully they’ll release me to play in a week or two and I’ll be able to be full go. Right now I’m just trying to keep my cardio up and work on things that I can.”
As a freshman, Allen played in all 29 games, starting 11, and averaged 6.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per contest. Not bad numbers for a freshman, but the improvement she showed as a sophomore was just as impressive.
Jim Foster, Ohio State head women’s basketball coach, witnessed Allen’s revival from her injury.
“I think she has done a great job recovering from her injury,” Foster said. “Through the summer she made great progress.”
Making progress is nothing new for Allen, who said she has grown up in several ways since her arrival in Columbus from her hometown of Indianapolis, Ind. She is a graduate of Ben Davis High School, which has produced numerous college basketball stars over the years, including Shyra Ely, who is Tennessee’s top returning scorer and rebounder this season. Allen said she misses her family and friends back home, but gets to see them often, especially during the season when her mother and uncle come to many home games and also go to games at Indiana and Purdue when the Buckeyes are on the road in the Hoosier state. In addition, since the Big Ten tournament is now played in Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, many of Allen’s family and friends have been able to see her compete in her hometown.
Allen would not trade her experience at Ohio State for anything.
“Columbus is so much like Indianapolis,” Allen said. “I enjoyed my visit here and I just had that feeling like I belonged here. I love the campus atmosphere – everybody is Buckeye crazy. I like that a lot, as well as the people here and the diversity of the campus.”
All those aspects – being away from home, making new friends, and even her injury – have helped shape Allen into the student-athlete she is today.
“I would say I have matured a lot, both physically and mentally,” Allen said. “I’ve really matured both as a player and a person.”
Foster agreed with Allen’s analysis and hopes her growth will translate into what she contributes when she returns to the Buckeye lineup.
“She is definitely a more mature player,” Foster said. “I want to see it on the court this season, but I know off the court, without a doubt, she has matured. I am anxiously awaiting the opportunity to see her return to the court.”
The inventory of good things that have come Allen’s way, thanks in part to what she has already accomplished on the basketball court, is an impressive file. The game of basketball has taken Allen to a host of very memorable locations.
“Las Vegas was fun and so was California,” Allen said, noting many of the trips she has taken have been a result of her participation in AAU hoops. “And of course the Ohio State trip we took overseas (to Europe) was exciting. From Canada to New York to Florida, every place I have visited, we have been playing basketball.”
Allen hopes the 2003-04 campaign has a few interesting destinations of its own come March when the NCAA tournament rolls around.
One thing that will make this season special for Allen is how much she enjoys her teammates. Allen describes herself as being silly and able to clown around, which fits right in with the rest of the Buckeyes.
“Everybody (on the team) has their own little goofiness to them,” Allen said. “We are just all really carefree people and it is a small group this year we so we can communicate and hang out. I am very goofy and talkative at times, but I am also observant of things going on around me.”
Allen, who lists her hobbies as computers, movies, bowling and watching TV, especially college basketball, has taken a keen interest in several of the team’s many off-court activities.
“My favorite is bowling,” Allen said. “I love to bowl. We all go to the movies pretty often, too, and we like eating an occasional meal at coach’s house. Or we just hang out with each other and just laugh and clown around.”
One game of a more serious nature is also at the top of Allen’s list of favorite activities – the game of chess. Since taking a chess class in middle school, she has continued to be a student of the game. Since arriving at Ohio State, Allen and Buckeye teammate Kim Wilburn have had many battles on the chess board.
“I like the challenge because you don’t know what the other person is thinking,” Allen said. “You have to be on your game because your opponent’s next move might be your last move. You have to be really intense and focused.”
After suffering her season-ending knee injury last season, Allen’s interest in chess helped her get through the winter months when she was off her feet.
“When I was in the hospital, somebody bought me a little magnetic chess board to carry around,” Allen said. “When you learn something you want to keep on playing and I really got addicted to it.”
Speaking of brain power, coming to Ohio State has also given Allen an impressive field of study. A technology education major, Allen will graduate from Ohio State with a versatile degree that will give her skills in graphics, computer-aided design and engineering. The education aspect of her major might also allow Allen to continue her involvement with basketball.
“I’ll be able to teach in a high school or in college, but the teaching degree will allow me to coach if I want to,” Allen said. “Right now I would like to go more towards the graphics end.”
Her graphics ability has already come in handy as she had a little fun with team pictures. Using her computer, she cut out last year’s team photo and placed it in front of random locations and added amusing text.
Back on the basketball court, Allen is planning to make a successful return this season. When she does come back, though, Allen will not be gunning for personal goals.
“I try not to set very many individual goals,” Allen said. “I just want to do whatever it takes to help us win. If that means I score five points, then I’ll score five points and get six steals. I am just going to see what my role is and carry it on from there.”
Foster has clear plans for where Allen will be most utilized when she makes her return.
“I think what she is going to be able to do quickly is help us defensively because she is so long and has good instincts,” Foster said. “She has worked hard in the offseason and also improved her shot.”
Whatever is asked of her, Allen will be more than willing to contribute.
“Wherever Coach Foster tells me to play, I’ll play,” Allen said. “This year we have a very versatile team. We have post players that can shoot jumpers and we have wings that can drive to the basket or pass it out. If we stay competitive in every game and play every possession as if it is our last, that will get us back to the NCAA tournament.”
If anything good can come from the type of injury Allen suffered, she has found it and made the most of it.
“It makes you step back and think,” Allen said. “For some people it would have been easy to give up, but you have to decide if you really want it. If you do, you’ll rehab and get yourself back out there.”
As she prepares to make her return, one of Allen’s goals is to improve on the parts of her game she feels were not as good as they could have been last season.
“You say to yourself, ‘What was I not doing well before the injury?’ and that is something you want to try to do better when you come back. My focus has been to come back and do certain things well”
When she does get to the point where she is at full strength, look for Allen to have a spark in her game that comes from playing aggressively and with a determination to make the most of her time on the court.
“I want to come back and consistently be aggressive because I think that is one thing I didn’t do last year,” Allen said. “I am going to play every possession like it’s my last because you never know.”
One thing for sure, however, is with Allen on the court, Ohio State’s final possession this season could come in April at the Final Four in New Orleans.
