Archbishop Wood’s Allen, Bowen sign National Letters of Intent
WARMINSTER >> Signing Day means plenty of pictures with family, friends, teammates and coaches.
For Archbishop Wood’s Bri Bowen, the requisite photos also included her family’s pair of French bulldogs Elsa and Louie.
“Everyone’s just obsessed with them. They’re just the cutest ever,” Bowen said. “They’re a really big part of our family though, we’re such a dog-lovers family and I honestly don’t know what I do without my dogs.”
The canines were among those in attendance Wednesday afternoon as Wood recognized both Bowen and Ryanne Allen as the two Vikings girls basketball standouts signed their National Letters of Intent to Division I programs – Allen to Vanderbilt University and Bowen to the University of Delaware.
“Me and Bri have been playing with each other since fourth grade so for this day to kind of be like signing off all of our hard work that’s paying off,” Allen said. “It’s really cool to celebrate with her and all of our friends here.”
Allen celebrated her commitment to the Commodores with some stylish footwear, wearing a pair of Jordans featuring Vandy’s black and gold.
“My mom actually surprised me this morning with them before Signing Day,” Allen said. “So I came downstairs to them this morning. It was pretty cool.”
Allen is 81st in the espnW 100 Class of 2022 national recruiting rankings, the senior a two-time all-state selection – Class 4A first team last season, Class 5A second team as a sophomore – and a three-time All-Philadelphia Catholic League pick, earning All-PCL Red Division first team honors the previous two seasons and was all-league honorable mention as a freshman.
“Vanderbilt’s getting one of the best shooters in the country,” Wood girls basketball coach Mike McDonald said. “First and foremost, that’s the thing they liked the most is her ability to come off screens, catch it, shoot it – it’s a high, quick release, smooth, she puts it in the basket. But she’s also very passionate about the game, competitive, loves the game, she’s a great teammate and she puts in the work to grow her game.”
Bowen was an All-PCL Red Division second team selection last year as a junior.
“Bri Bowen, you’re getting the ultimate competitor,” McDonald said. “One of her coaches, in fact it was her AAU coach, Frank Sciolla I think called her the Swiss Army Knife – does a little bit of everything and that’s right on the nose. She does everything. She can pass the ball, she can play point guard to center, she can defend every position, she handles, she’s got great IQ, she shoots the ball pretty well but she just does all the stuff in between the stat lines and also pads stats as well.”
Allen and Bowen played together on AAU program Mid-Atlantic Magic from fourth to eighth grade then teamed another two years with Philadelphia Belles. Allen spent the past AAU season with Philly Rise while Bowen competed with Team Final.
As juniors at Archbishop Wood, the pair helped the Vikings claim their first PCL title since 2016 and their first PIAA championship since 2017 as they ended the year taking the Class 4A state crown to finish 17-2.
“I really think it’s amazing that we made it this far together,” Bowen said. “And the fact that we’ve been playing AAU since we were in fourth grade and winning championships together, you couldn’t ask for anything more and I can’t wait to do it again this year with her.
“It’s really rare to get that with someone you’re so close with and the path we took together since we were in fourth grade and all the way through high school, just working through adversity on this team together and winning and we learned so much together.”
Allen verballed to Vanderbilt in September on her visit to the SEC school, which is located in Nashville, choosing the Commodores ahead of planned trips to Maryland and Penn State.
Vandy is in its first season under head coach Shea Ralph, who was a Connecticut assistant since 2008 and as a player at UConn was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player as the Huskies won the 2000 national title.
“I trusted in what Coach Ralph was going to do there and what she has planned for the future,” Allen said. “The people, everything about it kind of fit and when I was on campus everything felt right and I knew that’s where I wanted to be.”
Last season, Allen hit a pair of two free throws with 1.3 seconds remaining for the last two of her game-high 19 points in Wood’s 37-36 PCL semifinal win over Archbishop Carroll. Shen then knocked down four 3-pointers in scoring 22 points as the Vikings topped Cardinal O’Hara 56-48 for the Catholic League title.
Allen scored double digits in all three of Wood’s PIAA games – posting 18 against Gwynedd Mercy in the quarterfinals, going for 12 in the semifinals against Scranton Prep then finishing with 17 against District 10 champ Villa Maria in the state 4A final.
Allen is looking to round out her offensive game in her senior year to compliment her shooting.
“Just using my size and countering on other moves and getting to the basket move,” she said. “Cause everyone in the league knows I’m a 3-point shooter so kind of using that to my advantage and getting to the rim.”
Bowen verballed to Delaware in June, picking for the Blue Hens – led by fifth-year head coach Natasha Adair – after looking at several other options including Drexel, Elon, William & Mary, Florida Atlantic, Sienna and Colgate.
“I knew Delaware was an amazing school, it was a really good academic school and it was only an hour away from my house which was a positive for me so my family can go to my games,” Bowen said. “And honestly when I was on the visit it felt like home and the coaching staff was just so passionate and I just fell in love with the school and just the program is so competitive and it was the perfect fit academically and athletically.”
Bowen added 15 points in last year’s PCL championship game, connecting on three 3-pointers in helping the Vikings win the league after falling in the final the previous two seasons.
“You can always work on things individually about your game, obviously,” Bowen said. “I’m really focused on winning this year and doing what’s best for my team. But individually, ball-handling is always something I work on but just stay in shape and getting faster and stronger and just working on my game.”
With both Allen and Bowen back for one more season at Wood, the Vikings are expecting to once again be the top side in the Catholic League and state.
“Obviously we’re going to be the hunted this year,” Bowen said. “Everybody always wants to beat Wood in general, especially since we won the Catholic League and the states last year. But we’re still making our stand, we’re still Wood, we’re still winning everything. We’re not going to back down from anyone this year and we’re going to play together as a team and win another championship.”
