This Oak Park High senior stands alone at summit of North Kansas City basketball

Midway through the second quarter, Zane Tanner looked down at his stat sheet. Oak Park senior Paige Allen had nine points, and he knew his point guard had to get the next two points on the board.

“Slash,” he called from the bench. It was a play Allen knew well, and one he knew would probably result in a score.

Bringing the ball up the court, Allen swung the ball out wide to her right toward a guard on the perimeter. On the other side, a second guard cut inside and set a screen for Allen as the rest of the team cleared out the backside, leaving a wide-open space to the left of the basket.

With attention on the guard with the ball, Allen cut into the open space using the screen and received the ball with a clear lane to the hoop.

“Once I knew it was going in, my excitement just kind of took over,” Allen told the Star.

But her excitement wasn’t just about a bucket against Park Hill South. It represented the 2,000th point of her high school career.

Immediately, Allen’s teammates mobbed her. Fans in the stand lifted banners, and confetti cannons went off around her. A video montage of Allen’s high school career popped up on the large board in Oak Park’s gym, showing some of her best moments for the Northmen since her freshman year.

“It feels amazing,” Allen said. “Without them supporting me the way they do, I don’t know if I’ll have the confidence.”

She had already smashed the previous Park Hill points record of 1,286 — a mark that had stood since 1982, when Oak Park Hall of Famer Tammy Noah played there.

Allen now stands alone at the summit of North Kansas City basketball. She’s the only active player in the NKC School District, boy or girl, to surpass 2,000 points.

The record was never really in doubt for Allen. In her freshman year alone she eclipsed the 500-point mark, proving to be a lethal point guard who could efficiently drive to the basket and score.

But her coach at Oak Hill, Tanner, knew she could do even better.

“We really tried to work with her just doing all phases that we know,” Tanner said. “Being able to shoot off the dribble, decide when she can’t get to the basket because you’ve got to pull up mid-range jumpers coming off a screen, or in transition pulling up and hitting a three.”

Less than three years later, Allen is nearly unguardable. Opponents have learned to double- or triple-team her, but she’ll just drive and kick out to a teammate. They’ll put several players between her and the basket, but she’ll pull up for three a mid-range jumper.

And if that doesn’t work, she’ll just draw a foul and head to the line. She’s shooting over 75% from the line during her senior year and has recorded over 600 of her career points from the free-throw line.

“You have to guard her so many different ways and then the last piece of it is she’s assisting now so she’s making other people better,” Tanner said. “Putting them in positions too, even though they start slowing her down a little bit, we’re still scoring based on her ability to have hot hands.”

Allen is approaching the final stages of her career at Oak Park. Her next stop is Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, where she will continue her basketball career. She follows the steps of both her parents, who played at Florida State and Park University.

“Leaving Oak Park will probably be pretty hard,” Allen said. “They’ve really given me a lot of support over the years.”

“I always think like ‘Man, I really did that, I really went out here and got all these records and stuff,’” she continued. “And I just really want to meet the person that comes after me and breaks my record and see how that goes. It just humbles me to experience it, it all just humbles me.”

This story was originally published February 7, 2020 at 2:08 PM.