Monessen grad Allen still shining on Bulgarian basketball courts

Monessen's Charel Allen continues to be a basketball hit overseas playing in the Bulgarian National Basketball League.

In her fifth season overall and second with BC-Levski, Allen averaged 18.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.2 steals per game. She was the BNBL's second leading scorer.

BC-Levski finished 18-6 overall and lost in the championship series finals to Allen's former team, Dunav 8806. Allen played two seasons in the WNBA and was the 43rd player selected in that league's 2008 draft before initially playing overseas in Turkey for Ceyhan Belediye in the European League.

She was the seven-team league's Player of the Year and returned home to run the sixth annual Charel's Basketball Camp and Highlight Game at the Monessen High School gymnasium in late June.

Before turning pro, Allen played collegiate basketball for perennial power Notre Dame and received first-team All Big East Conference honors each of her final two seasons and the Fighting Irish advanced to the NCAA Tournament each of her four years.

Allen scored 1,566 points with 656 rebounds, 239 assists, 71 blocks and 206 steals while playing 129 games with 67 starts.

She played high school ball under retired Lady Greyhounds' head coach Major Corley, who was assisted by current head coach Gina Naccarato.

Allen capped her scholastic year by leading the 2003-04 team to a 29-2 overall record, which included winning the WPIAL and PIAA Class A championships.

A three-time, first-team All-State selection, she finished with career totals of 3,110 points and 1,247 rebounds.

Obade in Czech league

Charleroi's Elijah “Eli” Obade finished his first season of professional basketball with the same consistent production that highlighted his collegiate career at Millersville University of Pennsylvania.

The 6-foot-9-inch, 250-pound post player played for the Mattoni National Basketball League Czech Republic's Astrum Levice team, which is located in Levice, Slovakia.

Obade played in 30 games and averaged 28.3 minutes per game, He also averaged 12.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.

A three-sport star at Charleroi, Obade earned eight varsity letters while excelling in basketball, track, and football before heading east for college basketball. He initially played one season at Delaware Technical and Community College where he averaged eight points, eight rebounds and two blocks per game in 2009-10.

At Millersville, Obade became the program's first recipient of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference's Eastern Division Player of the Year award in 2012-2013. That senior season he also earned first-team, all-conference honors after averaging 11.7 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. He set a single-season school record with 75 blocks and his 334 rebounds were the most by a Marauders player in 43 years. Obade recorded 14 double-doubles that season.

Millersville won 41 games over Obade's final two seasons with consecutive conference playoff appearances.

Rebellion on TV

The Pennsylvania Rebellion of the National Pro Fastpitch softball league has four televised games remaining on the CBS Sports Network.

Prior to this season, the NPF had partnered with ESPN for national contests but in 2014 the seven-year old league agreed to terms with CBS Sports Network.

Televised games at Consol Energy Park in Washington include the Chicago Bandits on July 28 and 29. The final two games on the primetime sports cable network will also be Aug. 11 and 12, also against the Bandits. The start of the Aug. 11 game will be aired at 8:30 p.m. while the other televised games will begin at 7:05 p.m.

The Rebellion also will be televised at Firestone Stadium, the home of the Akron Racers on Aug. 4 and 5.

Bruce Wald is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.