With 3:36 remaining in the second quarter, Jillian Alleyne took position just outside the restricted zone at the basketball hoop closest to the Oregon bench.
Hampton’s Kaylah Lupoe took the pass from a teammate and shot the ball. Alleyne was ready. She contested the shot, forced Lupoe to miss, and pulled in her 1,363rd career rebound, etching herself further into the Oregon women’s basketball record books and helping the Ducks to a 86-51 win over Hampton Thursday night.
The moment was another no-frills rebound in Alleyne’s illustrious career. With the board, she leapfrogged Bev Smith (1978-1982) for the most rebounds in school history. She now totals 1,367 on her career. Last season, she passed Alison Lang who had 1,151 boards at Oregon.
“Bev Smith was a great player and she paved the way for athletes such as myself and my teammates,” Alleyne said after the game. “To break her record, it was a good feeling and it was a great win for the team. I just do what I do best.”
Head coach Kelly Graves said the moment escaped him, but Alleyne’s achievement was announced as the team went to the locker room for intermission.
“It’s pretty neat,” Graves said. “Those are two classy women, Bev Smith and Jillian Alleyne. I think any program would be happy to have them as the faces of their program. That’s quite an accomplishment — what a thrill.”
HIGHLIGHT | Jillian Alleyne. The new all-time leader in rebounds. #GoDucks https://t.co/LVfGxvt3wg
— Oregon Ducks WBB (@OregonWBB) November 20, 2015
Alleyne finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and five assists against Hampton, good for her 71st double-double at Oregon. Smith owns the double-double record as well, with 88. Alleyne has at least 25 more games this season to tie Smith, who was Oregon’s coach from 2001 to 2009.
Smith is a member of the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Alleyne could also break the Pac-12’s career rebounding mark, currently held by Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike of Stanford, who had 1,567.
“I’m privileged and honored to be a Duck,” Alleyne said in October. “I’m more proud to be a Duck than anything else.”
Alleyne said when she enrolled at Oregon (2-0) three years ago, she didn’t see this kind of success coming her way, much less breaking a 33-year-old record. Alleyne has always said individual records only matter when the Ducks win, which hasn’t been a forgone conclusion in recent years.
“I honestly didn’t see all that coming my way, and all that’s coming in the future,” Alleyne said. “It’s just a blessing. I’m just going to keep pursuing everything.”
Alleyne this week said she’s had chances to learn from Smith, who still lives in Eugene. Smith usually sits court-side at Duck games, just opposite the Oregon bench.
Alleyne’s career average of 14.5 boards a game would currently break the Pac-12 record of 12.8 rebounds a game, held by former UCLA standout Natalie Williams,
“Jill has been pretty low-key when it comes to any record,” Graves said. “She’s such a humble person. It’s not in her nature to make a big deal of it. It’ll be interesting to talk to her about it.”
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne
