The game of basketball provided a path in life for Ardmore native Monesha Allen. She has spent her professional career, using the game to pour into the lives of others.
Allen added a new achievement to her storied career as a basketball coach this season, leading Denton Ryan to the Class 5A D1 state championship, defeating San Antonio Wagner 58-47. The win capped a 34-7 season in which Denton Ryan defeated the No. 4, No. 3 and No. 1 ranked teams to capture the state title.
“I found out yesterday in an interview, in the hundred and however many years in Denton ISD has been in existence, that this is the first women’s basketball championship,” she said. “It is awesome, it is unbelievable.”
Allen has spent her entire coaching career in Denton ISD, starting as a freshman coach at Denton High prior to taking over the Denton Ryan program. She has won 432 games and can pick out another 20 that should have gone into the win column without batting an eye.
She can also quickly recall those who played a significant role in her life.
Growing up in Ardmore
Allen was born and raised in Ardmore, attending elementary through high school. She developed into an all-state athlete for the Tigers under head coach Cliff Cotton. She grew up playing basketball in the park with friends along with kickball and other games.
“I loved Ardmore,” she said. “It is really small, but you know everyone. Just a real tight-knit community.”
Allen said her mother, Brenda Allen, was the most influential person in her life, instilling a strong work ethic.
“She was just a hard-working mother,” Allen said. “Between her and my grandmother, I just learned how to work hard at an early age. That taught me a lot. I feel like we went through a lot of adversity although I didn’t see it, or see all of it.
“I learned how to work in Ardmore. That is for certain.”
Professionally, Allen said her basketball coach was a huge, positive influence in her life, providing the tools for a successful career. She recalled Cotton coming to a junior high game and telling her that she would be a player. If not for that encouragement, Allen said she would never have played in high school.
“I didn’t have intentions on it,” she said.
Once she reached high school and developed on the court, she began to see the game in a different way and realized it could provide opportunities.
“I feel like people would feel that it is hard to believe, but I didn’t know I was any good at basketball,” she said. “I was okay, but I didn’t realize that until my senior year. When I found out that I could go play college ball, I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’”
Allen said her other option was to join the military.
“I knew I had to get out of Ardmore and spread my wings,” she said. “And so, those were my choices, and I wound up with a scholarship.
“I just didn’t know any other way out and I know we couldn’t afford college at the time, or my mom definitely couldn’t write a check for it.”
Career development
Allen chose to accept an offer to play basketball for Phillips University. A former Ardmore Tiger, Rae Rippetoe-Blair, recruited her to play basketball at the Enid school. Allen also had the opportunity to play with another Ardmore graduate and all-state alum Dana Posey.
“I had a pretty good career there and after graduating, I came to Texas because I had family here,” she said. “I went to the gym with my uncle (Albert Jackson). The coach (Ira Peoples) at Denton High had asked him to come with his girls.”
That turned into an opportunity when Peoples saw her working with a couple of his athletes. He asked Allen if she would be interested in coaching, and she accepted the offer.
“I was like, ‘Uh, I guess,’” she said. “And the rest is history.”
Allen said she had intended to go into physical therapy but didn’t want to go back to college for it.
“I thank God,” she said. “Obviously, he has plans for me. Definitely this career is so rewarding, and I wanted to be able to give back, no matter what I did, the way that Coach Cotton gave, or provided for me as an athlete. I just learned so much in basketball. Whether it be the discipline, whether it be the accountability. Any of the above. You just learn so much. You learn how to fall and immediately get back up.”
Allen was a freshman coach for six years at Denton High and then took over the Denton Ryan program in 2002-2003, becoming one of the youngest coaches in Class 6A when the program moved up in class.
“That was brutal, but you learn,” Allen said. “It is just like competing, it is the same. You live and you learn. You will make some mistakes, and you will second guess yourself. You second guess yourself on the court but that is just part of it.
“You obviously learn from it, and you grow from it. It makes you a better overall coach, person.”
Building athletes and people
As a coach, Allen not only learned from her experiences but also wanted to teach her girls lessons on and off the court.
“The real world is so harsh on you,” she said. “It is funny how they think a running practice is tough or this drill is tough. And this is nothing compared to what you are going to run into. It is interesting. You see them grow on the court and off the court and it is so rewarding, more so off the court, and then 10 to 15 to 20 years later.”
There are mementos of success on and off the court in Allen’s office, including letters from athletes who excelled in the classroom, earning valedictorian honors. Those letters are particularly special for Allen as they thank her for the impact she had on their lives.
“The adversity that they faced here was just a steppingstone to what they see every day in their personal lives and that is beyond rewarding,” she said.
Allen said you dream of winning a state championship, but when you have a doctor who attributes their success to you, it is just as rewarding.
Winning state
The Texas high school basketball season and playoffs are a marathon compared to Oklahoma as the season is longer with more games played. Tournaments can span three days with six games played by each team.
Entering the season, Allen felt the program had a special group of ladies with talent. But talent doesn’t necessarily guarantee a win in every game, which the record reflected.
“It was a lot of mental challenges, that if we could get over those mental humps and we finally did because we began having these little sessions and talked about being mentally tough,” she said.
Once Denton Ryan matched its mental toughness with its talent, the team had something.
“It is about the title, but it is also about developing young ladies and seeing them grown and mature, not only in the game but in life,” she said.
Allen said she averaged about six hours of sleep during the three weeks of the playoffs but felt at peace the night before the state championship game.
“You wake up and it is on your mind, film is on your mind, things that need to go in the scouting report,” she said. “There are a lot of restless nights to say the least, but it has been well worth it.”
When the playoffs arrived, Denton Ryan was not ranked but it did not matter. Class 5A is split into two divisions with the toughest teams in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches competing in Division One.
Allen’s team navigated the playoff bracket and advanced to the title game against San Antonio Wagner. She recalled going through a gamut of emotions in the final seconds of the game.
“The last 40 seconds, you realize, ‘This is really it,’” she said. “It is about to hit. We are about to finish this game and finish it on top. We are about to be victorious.”
Allen remembered grinning as thoughts flooded throughout her mind as she wished the clock would finally run out.
“It is really special, I have a daughter on the team,” Allen said. “A lot of people don’t know that. It is unique, it is hard to do when you have been doing this so long and then for her to be a part of it is special.”
Her daughter, Atiya Everett, is a sophomore point guard on the team.
“I am just excited about that and her future for whatever she decides to do because not everybody loves it like you love it,” she said. “That is what I have learned coming into this. You have to love it.”
