The story of Tori
Andrean’s all-time leading scorer Tori Allen continues cementing her legacy
Tori Allen figures prominently in Andrean’s records as an offensive player. The senior guard is the 59ers’ career scoring leader and has paced them in assists in all four of her seasons as a starter.
But it’s on the other end of the floor where Allen, a DePauw recruit, has most developed this season — and has taken considerable pride.
“I was never looked at as being one of the players who could guard the best player,” she said. “This year my team’s really looked at me to help guard the best player. That’s really what I’ve done better at.”
Andrean coach Tony Scheub said he
agrees “100%.”
“Before, it was, ‘Who do you think I’m going to guard?’ ” Scheub said. “Now, it’s, ‘Hey, I want her. I want to guard her.’ She’s been studying the film and says who she wants to guard. She picks one of the best players every time. She’s not trying to get an easy defensive assignment.
“Before, we were a little tentative because she has the ball in her hands so much. To give her one of the harder defensive assignments, we didn’t want to wear her out. But she wants it now. That helps her focus in practice, too, knowing who she’s going to guard and knowing she’s going to have to get locked in.”
Such responsibilities haven’t affected Allen’s productivity. She is averaging a teamhigh 16.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.6 steals for Andrean (24-3), which will play North Miami (19-5) in the Class 2A Winamac Regional on Saturday.
Allen has done it while drawing the now-customary intense attention from opponents, still managing to increase her scoring every season.
“It’s something we’ve faced a lot this year, more than any year we’ve had Tori — teams going to no-help on her or diamond-andone, some kind of junk defense on us to try to stop Tori,” Scheub said. “Each game, she gets better and better at handling it. She picks her spots. She doesn’t force anything.
“She could probably take more shots, and we wouldn’t be upset about it. But she does a great job of distributing the ball and getting everyone involved. It’s been fun to watch her transformation into just a total and complete package.”
Even letting the game come to her, Allen surpassed 2021 graduate Julia Schutz to become the 59ers’ all-time leader in points. Allen looked up to her former teammate.
“It definitely means a lot,” Allen said. “Julia Schutz is one of my best friends, so to be able to break her record, it shows I could follow in her footsteps. She was one of my big role models at Andrean.”
The scope of Allen’s achievement didn’t truly hit Scheub until after Andrean completed its Dec. 14 win against Hanover Central.
“It’s funny,” Scheub said. “During the game, when she broke it, it was, ‘OK, here’s the game ball. Let’s get back on with the