Manchester Mystics have confirmed they will have a second senior Great Britain team member on their roster for the forthcoming 2016-17 WBBL campaign after swooping to sign Dominique Allen who represented her country at London 2012.
Following on from the news that point guard Georgia Jones will be wearing Mystics’ colours this season, Allen brings valuable experience of the European game having played in five different leagues on the Continent.
Allen represented Great Britain at U20 level and went to the London Olympics via an earlier selection for the GB Futures team at the World University Games. Since then, she has played at two EuroBasket Women Final Rounds [France 2013 and Hungary 2015] and was part of the GB team that played on her new club’s home court at the National Basketball Performance Centre back in February in the FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017 Qualifiers.
Mystics’ head coach Jeff Jones is absolutely thrilled to have Allen in his squad for the upcoming season and stated, “ I feel Dominique can be an instant success in the WBBL.
“She has a lot of things you can’t teach in that she is an outstanding athlete and her size is an added bonus for us.
“Her skill set is right in line with how we hope to play this season and her ability to run the floor is exceptional, while her knowledge of the game is also very high. Her basketball experience will also be invaluable for our younger players.
“Dominique’s signing will also be able to add to the cultural change we are hoping to make in Manchester,” added Jones.
“Obviously she is familiar with playing with Georgia and that is a big bonus in terms of their on-court understanding of each other and how they both play together, will be one of our strengths this season.”
Allen started her career in Birmingham, before spending two seasons playing in the English Basketball League and BUSA competition for Northumbria University, earning Most Valuable Player honours in 2006-7.
She then transferred to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
After graduating, she made her professional debut in the 2012-13 season with Italian second tier side Meccanica Nova Bologna, becoming a regular starter and averaging more than 10 points and seven rebounds per game.
She then made the switch to France to play in LF2 for Cote d’Opale Basket Calais, then moving to the top level ZBL in Czech Republic to play for SBS Ostrava. Last season Allen started with Flying Foxes Vienna where she briefly played in EuroCup Women, before making a mid-season move to the DBBL in Germany where she represented Chemnitz Chemcats.