Wilde, Allen earn Athletes of the Week honors

Temperatures are dropping but for the Steers and Lady Blues basketball teams, they continue to stay hot on the court.

This past week the teams combined to win three out of four games, with a couple of those games coming by large margins. Both teams are on a well-deserved holiday break now for some time, but they’ve been showing up and showing out all season.

This past week, Madi Wilde of the Lady Blues and Tyler Allen of the Steers earned selections as The Graham Leader’s Athletes of the Week. Each player played a role in the success of his or her respective team throughout all the games.

Madi Wilde, guard, Lady Blues basketball

Wilde is truly a do-it-all athlete for Graham High School. While she’s recently been spending most of her time on the basketball court, she’s also a member of the Lady Blues soccer team as well.

With the official start of the soccer season just a few weeks away, she’s about to get a lot busier but she handles everything and still manages to perform at a high level.

“They’re two high energy level games (basketball and soccer). Here in a couple of weeks you’ll see her playing a soccer game and a basketball game, sometimes on the same night,” basketball head coach Kyle Wood said. “But she’s a heck of a kid.”

During the Lady Blues’ two most recent games, Wilde played a large role in the success of her team in both wins. She excelled at sharing the ball with her teammates and helping them turn their shots into points.

In the team’s win over Seymour, she recorded five assists and in the win over Big Spring she pitched in four more. She didn’t do the bulk of the scoring in either game but averaged 5 points per game over the two contests.

Wilde does a lot of moving without the ball, trying to confuse a defense and help not only herself get open, but others as well. Little things like that don’t always show up in the scorebook, but they contribute heavily to the team’s overall success.

“She did the little things right early,” Wood said about Wilde’s play in the Big Spring game. “She’s done a good job defensively. She has a high motor; she’s always gonna play hard. But she’s done a really good job.”

Tyler Allen, guard, Steers basketball

Another do-it-all player in the Graham basketball program plays on the Steers team in Allen. He plays more of a reserve role in giving some of the starters a break when they need it but his contributions mean the team barely skips a beat.

Allen is a first-year varsity player in his sophomore year after spending last season on the freshman team. He’s got a knack for offense with an ability to hit big shots from all around.

During the Steers’ most recent two games — one a tough loss at Iowa Park and the other a big win over Big Spring — Allen showed that consistent offensive ability in both match-ups.

He tallied 8 points against the Hawks and recorded 7 points against the opposing Steers.

“He's been a bright spot for us coming in. He runs backup for Ty (Thompson), he runs backup for Tyson (Weaver), he runs backup for Sam (Rodgers), like he's got a lot of different areas he can play, mostly because he could shoot the ball so good,” head coach Kris Hise said.

Allen puts in a lot of work outside of regular team practices. Hise said Allen spends a lot of time with his father and grandfather working on his craft and getting in extra practice so he can improve every day.

As he’s only a sophomore, Allen will have plenty of time to take his skills and abilities to another level, and with what he’s shown so far this season, that’s a very real possibility.

He’ll continue to be counted on for his consistency and solid play all around.