‘There’s no ceiling’: Archbishop Wood star Ryanne Allen always looks to improve as she heads to Vanderbilt

Before Archbishop Wood’s Jan. 11 game against Archbishop Ryan, Vikings senior Ryanne Allen was honored for having eclipsed 1,000 career points over the holiday break.

Joining the 1,000-point club has long been regarded as one of the top milestones that a high school player can reach. It was no different for Allen, whose scoring has been the centerpiece of her Wood career. But the honor was even more special for Allen, who despite a long track record of individual success is a team-first player. That selflessness on the court helped inspire her teammates and coaches to jump at the chance to return the favor.

“It was special to honor that because she is always putting the team first,” Wood coach Mike McDonald said. “If she was someone that was just constantly trying to score 1,000 points for herself, nobody would really want to honor her. There was a lot of student body at the game because she’s such a special person that puts the team first, puts other people first.”

Allen, who was recently named as a nominee for the 2022 McDonald’s All-American Game, has been one of the faces of the Wood basketball team since she joined the program. Her 6-foot-1 frame, as well as her ability to shoot the ball anywhere on the outside, helped her to earn a starting role instantly.

While she initially specialized as an outside scoring threat, it didn’t take long for Allen to start building on her game. Over the next few years, she learned how to play in the post and developed a strong midrange game. Allen also started increasing her ballhandling capabilities and began to push the ball up the floor on offense. She didn’t limit her growth to the offensive side of the ball, either.

“She takes pride in her defense now,” McDonald said. “Whoever she’s covering, she doesn’t want them to score on her. It means as much to her to stop the girl that she’s playing as it does for her to score down the other end.”

Allen also wasted no time in establishing herself as a leader for the Vikings. McDonald named her a captain as a junior, a decision that proved to be critical this season, with Allen operating as one of the team’s few returning upperclassmen. This year, she has been tasked with leading a program looking to defend its Philadelphia Catholic League and PIAA Class 4A titles.

“I look forward to just helping other players believe in themselves and helping them want to get better and improve their game,” Allen said. “Helping them understand all that stuff, and then seeing the results, it’s an awesome thing to do.”

Allen transformed from a talented freshman to an all-around playmaker and veteran presence for McDonald’s squad. How did she do it?

“It’s a process,” Allen said. “But [I] just continue to work on my game, wanting to get better. There’s no ceiling. You can always continue to get better at whatever you do.”

The returns on her investment in her game have been clear on the floor. But they have also inspired the guard to continue pushing her game to new heights.

“Seeing that all pay off over the years, it’s humbling,” Allen said. “But it also makes you just want to work harder because there’s so much room still to grow moving into college.

“From here, it gets hard. Playing Division I basketball, you have to do all that all over again.”

Allen will continue her basketball career at Vanderbilt next year. While playing college basketball was always in the cards for Allen, doing so at Vanderbilt was not always the plan. It wasn’t until the Commodores hired former UConn assistant Shea Ralph as their head coach that Allen developed an interest in the school.

Allen, who grew up watching UConn games on TV with her grandparents, was impressed by the basketball resume that Ralph had put together in her 13 years with the Huskies, with the coach having won six national titles as an assistant under Geno Auriemma.

“I knew I wanted to be a part of a rebuild,” Allen said. “When they hired her, I knew she had a history of winning, and that she would be the perfect person to turn a program around, and I just wanted to follow her, her competitiveness, and what she was going to do at Vanderbilt.”

Ralph’s history of player development — which included working with players like Paige Bueckers, Maya Moore, and Breanna Stewart — also played a factor in attracting Allen.

“I knew playing under her and the rest of the staff, there’s no question that she would push me to be a better player,” Allen said. “Playing after college was a thought, too, so maybe her getting me to where I want to be and where I need to be was definitely something [I considered].”

Vanderbilt was not the only school looking to bring Allen’s talents into its program. The four-star prospect also had offers from Villanova, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, and Princeton among others.

“I knew right when I was [at Vanderbilt], that’s where I wanted to be, that’s where I needed to be,” Allen said. “It was just the perfect fit for what I wanted.”

Those around Allen believe she’ll have no problem fitting into the Commodores’ culture. They know how hard she has worked to make her college basketball dream a reality, and they also know that her work ethic will help her to soar to even greater heights.

“She’s passionate, she really loves the game, and she puts in the work to earn [her] dream,” McDonald said. “Going forward at Vanderbilt, I’m going to be able to enjoy watching her.

“She’s a special person first and foremost, and then a special player second, and she deserves it.”