Three for the Road
Allen leverages his long-ball talent with grit and savvy.
Between his freshman and sophomore seasons at Northeastern, Chaisson Allen, a 6-foot-4 guard for the men’s
basketball team, shot as many as 600 three-pointers a day.
The hard work paid off. After summer school on the hard court, the Murfreesboro, Tennessee, native had upped his shooting percentage from beyond the arc from roughly 23 percent to 40 percent.
“I’ve become known as a shooter in this league,” says Allen, now a senior, whose first swish came courtesy of a Fisher-Price basketball hoop his grandfather bought him for Christmas eighteen years ago. “I’ve really been able to extend my range.”
During one game last season, Allen demonstrated his newfound knack for draining long-distance shots in a spectacular way: He grabbed a rebound, dribbled as far as the Northeastern logo, then flung the ball into the hoop as time expired, giving the Huskies a 70-67 win.
A clip of the unconventional trey racked up some eighty-four thousand YouTube hits and grabbed the attention of ESPN college basketball analyst Andy Katz, who named Allen’s half-court heave the “Shot of the Week” in his Weekly Watch column.
“I was stunned the shot went in,” says Allen, who was soon thereafter mobbed by his teammates. “It was a fun moment.”
Over the past four years, Allen has improved his performance in nearly every statistical category. He averaged 16.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, and more than two steals per game during his first twenty-six skirmishes of this season.
And pro scouts watched the sharpshooter score a career-high twenty-six points, snag four steals, and dish out five assists in a 91-80 victory over conference-leading Virginia Commonwealth on February 2.
“Hopefully, I’ll make it to that next level,” says Allen, who displays a slick crossover move borrowed from NBA point guard Deron Williams. “I’ll get some tryouts with some teams and see where it goes. I just want to complete a dream.”
Allen’s road to pro ball began in the gymnasium at Oakland High School, where he shot hoops for three hours every day after class. He spends almost as much time in film study as he does on the court, a point that’s not overlooked by head coach Bill Coen, who calls his player “a student of the game.”
Making baskets, grabbing boards, and racking up assists, says Coen, are only part of what makes this biology major a fierce competitor.
As Coen puts it, “Chaisson has an extremely high basketball IQ. It’s very difficult to become an NBA player, but I do believe he has a chance, because of his terrific understanding of the game. He has great physical tools, but his biggest
asset is his mind.”
Allen—whose work ethic resembles that of his brother, who played professional football for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers and the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe—is a leader both
on the court and in the locker room.
One thing he wants his teammates to remember is that wins and losses aren’t the be-all and end-all for their basketball squad, which had an 11-19 record by the beginning of March.
“What happens on the court doesn’t define who we are off the court,” says Allen. “We’ll remember the character of each person inside that locker room.”
Sparking a Can-Do Fire in Girls on Ice
Stephanie Wood, former captain of the Northeastern women’s hockey team, spends as many as thirteen hours a day on the ice with dozens of rink rats.
She wouldn’t have it any other way. Last August, Wood, BHD’07, parlayed her hockey smarts into a new position as director of women’s hockey operations for the Middlesex Islanders, an elite amateur youth-hockey club in New England.
Now she’s playing enforcer, coach, and encourager to the eager young goal-scorers and shot-blockers.
“It’s almost like my first experience of motherhood,” says Wood, who runs practices for all six squads and coaches the undertwelve and under-sixteen clubs. “It’s a tough act, but you have to find a balance between nurturing and discipline.”
Wood has already added dimension to the Islanders by developing off-ice workout routines and nutrition programs. Colleagues report she fits the organization like a pair of brand-new CCM skates. “Her experience and enthusiasm have been phenomenal for the program,” says Brian Donahoe, E’86, an Islanders director. “Having someone like Stephanie
really helps us define what it means to be elite.”
Wood’s injury-plagued career at Northeastern—
she had a series of surgeries on her knee and hip—limited her production as a Husky to five goals and six assists in sixty-eight games.
Despite that, she earned the coveted “C” on her red-and-black sweater by routinely hitting the ice forty-five minutes before her teammates and showing a no-quit attitude.
She passes this determination on to her disciples. “I push them in practice as hard as I can because I know what it takes to get to a high level,” says the New Brunswick, Canada,
native, who counts Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, and Canadian hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser as her favorite athletes.
“I just want them to achieve their potential,” Wood says.
Last March, Wood hit a new level of achievement herself when she placed second in the nation in scoring (five goals, four assists) at the 2010 Senior Hockey National Championships, in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Now she’s thinking about trying out for the Boston Blades, a team in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.
“I love to compete,” Wood says. “Hockey has taught me what it means to be dedicated.”