|
Allison Dunn has come a long way.
After unknowingly playing the final five games of last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and undergoing surgery last winter, the Oak Harbor senior has returned to the hardwood this season as a force to be reckoned with.
Dunn, at 5-feet-10, has made great strides in each of her three seasons at the varsity level, raising her scoring average from 3.1 to 12.5 to 14.8 points. This year, she is also pulling down 7.1 rebounds.
 |
| Allison Dunn |
Her coach says her success stems from a work ethic and commitment she’s made to improving her game. It was the summer before her junior year when things changed.
“I asked her the following summer (after her sophomore season) to change her shot and she would come in the gym alone and work for hours,” said second-year coach Brad Hemminger. “But the biggest difference was she decided she wanted to be a player.”
It was during that summer that she worked hard to hone her skills, and it has paid off.
“I finally realized (after my sophomore year) I want to be more (as a player), because I wasn’t very good. I was in the gym three to four hours a day, a couple of days a week just shooting around and that showed because I improved a lot between my sophomore and junior year.”
Besides establishing a presence down on the block, Dunn has also proven herself to be a versatile player who can shoot well from the perimeter.
Despite her stellar play, the Rockets have struggled as of late and currently stand at 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the Sandusky Bay Conference. After defeating Fostoria (47-16) and Genoa (65-30) to open the season, the Rockets reached a difficult portion of their schedule, losing four in a row to Margaretta (68-50), Port Clinton (45-38), Edison (69-60) and Bellevue (68-48).
It is not a one-woman show with the Rockets, though.
Dunn has gotten help in the frontcourt from fellow post player Abbie Gezo (5-9), Maria Boers (5-7), a quality shooter, and point guard Makayla Carpenter (5-3).
Gezo helps to fill the void left by former center Kayla Diefenthaler, a three-year starter, who graduated last year and currently serves as an assistant coach with the team. Gezo is averaging 14.3 points and has led the team in scoring in four of six games.
"Abbie worked hard and has fallen in love with basketball,” said Hemminger. “She's turned herself into a nice player.”
Boers, meanwhile, is averaging 8.7 points and has scored in double figures in three of the team’s six games while establishing herself as a legitimate three-point shooter. Carpenter serves the role of floor general, helping to engineer the offense.
Hemminger feels the team’s problem, specifically in defeats, is that they’ve not yet been able to consistently play a complete game. In some games, the defense is strong, but the offense comes up short or, in other games, the offense is clicking and the defense is lackluster.
Hemminger remains optimistic about what his players bring to the table.
“Our kids are small and scrappy,” he said. “When we’re focused, we can pass and shoot well, we can defend well. The difference in our team from last year — everybody has worked hard — is they're starting to believe in themselves, and the more they believe in their abilities the better they play. They come out and do what I ask."
Dunn, whose been playing since the third grade, said, “They make you want to come to practice. I respond well to their coaching. They always help us learn from what we did wrong (and) they know that we can do better. They keep pushing me and my teammates because they know that we can do more.”
Dunn is confident that the team can get things turned around. In fact, last year’s squad started off the season slowly before going on a 7-2 run during the latter part of its schedule.
“We just need to learn (from our mistakes),” she said. “We’ll get back on the winning track and hopefully we’ll stay (there).”
As for playing the five games of last season with a torn ACL, Dunn said. “I injured my knee during a (late-season) game and when I went to get it checked, the trainer didn’t see anything (seriously) wrong,” she said. “I played the rest of the season and then went to an orthopedic doctor, and he was almost 100 percent sure that I had a torn ACL. I had the surgery around late February, early March.”
Dunn, who maintains a 4.0 grade point average, plans on attending either Bowling Green State University or The Ohio State University and major in mathematics.
Hemminger summed up Dunn’s value to the club, saying, “She is very consistent and her teammates count on her. She takes a lot of pride and responsibility in her game and the way the team plays (and) is a great example to younger players that putting in time and working hard is how you become a very good player.
 |
Sports 
Subscribe to this comment's feed