Center of attention.

Byline: Adam Jude The Register-Guard

MAPLETON - For Shauna Allen, size is nothing more than a hard-working heart.

The Mapleton senior's talents and interests stretch beyond her 6-foot-2 frame and beyond the dimensions of the basketball court.

But it's on the court that Allen has displayed the most of her limitless potential, towering over her undersized Class 1A competition as Mapleton's fourth-year starting center.

"It doesn't matter how big you are or how small you are," she said. "I've been 6-foot, at least, since freshman year, and I've been the target because of my size. Now we're really working at coming together as a team. I'm not going to get anywhere without them."

Allen, one of five senior starters for the 10th-ranked Sailors (9-2, 5-1 league), is the reigning Mountain West League player of the year. And despite the relative anonymity of her small west Lane County home, the recruiting letters are finding their way into her mailbox.

Hoping to make the transition from Class 1A to Division I, Allen has received "a million letters" from recruiters, and she said she's particularly interested in Gonzaga.

"If I can get a full-ride scholarship, I'm taking it," she said.

Facing constant double and triple teams, Allen is averaging just more than 15 points, 10.6 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. She nearly had a triple-double - 20 points, 10 rebounds, eight steals - in the Sailors' league-opener at Falls City.

She's hoping all of her personal success adds up to another berth to the OSAA Class 1A state tournament.

"Our goal is to get back to Baker City; we made it our freshman year and we had so much fun and we want to go back," she said.

Lindsey Duval, a first-team all-league guard, and Mercedes Leclaire are key complements to Allen in the Sailors' offensive attack. Coach Jeff Slaughter said their outside shooting stretches the defense and opens the middle for Allen.

"This is a great group of girls," Slaughter said.

"They can take it as far as they want," added Steve Allen, an assistant coach and Shauna's father.

He speaks similarly of his daughter, who improved her game over the past two summers with a local traveling all-star team.

"She still has more to grow," Steve Allen said. "On the other hand - speaking as a dad and a coach - there's nobody in this league that can stop her. I could easily see her playing in 4A."

An athletic post with good footwork, Allen is a straight-A student and a curious thrill-seeker off the court. She's willing to try just about anything - as her choices of other non-traditional sports proves.

As a freshman, Allen played varsity baseball for Mapleton, starting every game in the outfield.

"Everyone kind of figured I'd quit, but I'm not the quitting type," she said. "I stuck it out. It was definitely interesting."

She was beaned by a pitch once, which was enough to persuade her to focus on basketball.

Despite pleas from the school's volleyball coach, Allen instead spends her falls outdoors, hunting and fishing with her dad.

"Shauna is the type of person that likes a lot of adrenaline rush," Steve Allen said.

During an October hunting trip with a group of men in La Pine, Shauna Allen landed the biggest kill.

"I got myself a big four-point buck," she said. "Out of 14 guys hunting, I was the only girl and I got the biggest one. I got the bragging rights."

She also claims to have bragging rights over her boyfriend, Kevin Stevens-Slaughter, a three-sport standout at Crow who also happens to be her coach's son.

"He's thinks he's got game, but I'd take him," she said with a chuckle.

The two met during Jeff Slaughter's first coaching tour with Mapleton more than five years ago, but they didn't like each other at first. When Allen and Stevens-Slaughter met again as sophomores, they hit it off instantly, and have now been dating for three years.

The connection only seems to strengthen the player-coach relationship for Allen and Slaughter.

"It obviously makes me and Jeff a lot closer," she said. "We know each other real well. But when it comes to basketball, it's not 'Jeff' - it's 'Coach.'"

The Sailors are hoping those close ties can keep them in the hunt for the title in a challenging Mountain West League South Division.

Standing in the way are No. 5 McKenzie and No. 9 Lowell, two teams that already have knocked off Mapleton this season.

McKenzie is favored to win the league championship, with defending champion Lowell lingering in the shadows.

Mapleton plays host to McKenzie at 5:30 tonight.

"I think it's going to come down to the last week," Slaughter said. "This is one of the toughest leagues in the state."

McKenzie (11-1, 5-0) returns its entire roster from last year's team that finished 21-3 overall.

The Eagles haven't advanced to the state tournament since 1986.

Seniors Ashley King and Esther Kelso, both first-team all-league selections last season, anchor an experienced backcourt with junior Nicole Price and senior Ashley Miller. McKenzie's only loss this season was to Class 2A Harrisburg in overtime.

"We're an excellent defensive team," McKenzie coach Mike Wiley said. "Teams have a hard time getting shots off against us, and that's the main reason we've had success."

Lowell (8-0, 4-0) was the only Mountain West team to qualify for the state tournament last year, finishing fifth.

The Red Devils, led by senior Jessica Comstock, aren't getting ahead of themselves.

"We're not even talking about Baker City; we're talking about every practice, every week - and that's the key," Lowell coach Mike Murray said. "If we work our tails off, good things will happen."

Alsea may be the biggest surprise, opening with a 4-0 mark in league play so far.

Eddyville and Triangle Lake should be Alsea's biggest competition in the North Division, and Mohawk and Crow are rebuilding this season.

CAPTION(S):

Mapleton's Shauna Allen has averaged 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for the Sailors, ranked 10th in the latest Class 1A girls basketball poll. Allen, a four-point student, has been on the radar of several Division 1 schools and says she is particularly interested in going to Gonzaga. Wayne Eastburn / The Register-Guard Mapleton's Shauna Allen, a four-year starter at center for the Sailors, has had to get used to double- and triple-teams. Allen leads the Sailors into a deep Mountain West League, which also includes an experienced McKenzie team and a Lowell team that finished fifth at state last year.