She-She got game

  MAIYA HOLLIDAY Senior forward Shalada "She-She"
Allen was recently suspended for fighting in a game
against USC.

By Adam Titcher
Daily Bruin Contributor

A fighter sat in the crowd watching her teammates lose again.
There was nothing she could do about the loss that evening, the
fight two nights earlier and the suspension being served. Players
lose their cool, but this time it was blown out of proportion.

What’s overlooked is that this fighter is trying to play
the best way she can. Senior forward Shalada “She-She”
Allen has worked her way up in the women’s collegiate
basketball world and continues to improve her all-around play.

“Not being able to play hurt, and I was trying to cover it
up by cheering for my team,” said Allen of her suspension.
“I never wanted to fight, but I am going to pick things up
and not let anything drag on me. My presence was missed, but now I
am here for my team.”

Allen has given this team a lot since she left Paris, Texas two
years ago. She played in a town of 20,000 people with no direction.
She was raw talent and no one cared enough to notice.

Overlooked, she was forced to try out for her junior college
team twice. But she shocked her coaches by leading the team in
scoring for both seasons.

Recruiting letters dropped in her mailbox, and UCLA finally saw
her potential.

“She knows I expect a lot out of her because I know she
was not pushed at the junior college level,” UCLA head coach
Kathy Olivier said. “She has improved since coming to UCLA
and has become a stronger player.”

It was not easy for Allen just a year ago. Everything seemed as
if it was out of her reach. She was in Los Angeles, and the
transition from small-town life to cosmopolitan L.A. seemed
overwhelming. For instance, she had never really experienced great
weather all the time before her move.

“UCLA was the only visit I took because it was
L.A.,” Allen said. “I also never thought I could play
at UCLA’s level, and it was tough.”

Academia is tough enough, and Allen had to figure out a system
in which she was already two years behind.

So she started to fight.

She literally pushed herself to the limits. She worked out
constantly and learned to play to the standard that Olivier
expected from all her players.

It was not enough time though. As a junior, she posted 2.8
points and 2.2 rebounds per game, and the season became a
transition period.

“We used to mention her name in practice all the time last
year, but now we do so in a positive way,” Olivier said.

Fortunately for Allen, she has stepped it up a notch since then
and has found power in her punch.

At the beginning of this season she came off the bench and began
to change the overall game for her teammates. She was seen as the
much needed spark to ignite a team that had lost its two star
players.

“Kathy gave me the chance, so I want to go out and play
for her,” Allen said. “She has a big influence on me,
and I am always looking for coach to motivate me. If she is shaking
her head, I know I am not doing something right so I will change
it.”

Allen never really thought of it as a fight, but she won the
battle to become a starting player.

“Kathy asked who was going to step up once (junior
forward) Kristee Porter left and (senior guard) Michelle Greco sat
out for the year, and She-She has been very responsive to the
answer,” assistant coach Tia Jackson said. “She
responds by putting the ball in the hole, and that is what wins
games.”

And she puts the ball away with her money shot ““ the fade
away jumper from 10 feet out. Everyone knows it and her teammates
feed off of it.

But it is not just her jumper that has given her fame. Allen
attacks the boards constantly.

But her attacks sometimes get her into trouble.

USC center Ebony Hoffman got in her way, and it resulted in some
pushing. Then there was shoving and finally two ejections.

While Allen was suspended, the Bruins went on to lose to Arizona
State at home. The team realized that her presence was missed.

But that’s all over now. No more fighting. No more
suspensions. Maybe many more losses, but maybe a few more wins.

Allen’s new fight is to be a leader and to show her team
that they can win.

“I am not much of a talker, but I lead by example,”
she said. “If I go into the game and get five boards, then
another person comes in, and they will want to get five boards too.
They want to play like me.”

And they will, because they know she will stand up to the
opponent who threatens them.