ABILENE, Texas (BCH Sports)–Taylor Allen comes from a basketball savvy family. Following in the footsteps of her older sisters, but also paving her own way.

Taylor Allen said, “It’s going to be really hard leaving everything that we have here, but it’s better that we’ve left a legacy me and my teammates have definitely left an impact and I know we’re still gonna be friends even after high school. But it’s going to be very rough, basketball is what I’m excited for after this.”

Allen was injured in the regional semi’s last year and pushed through it until the bitter end. Her don’t quit mentality is a special asset to the Lady Hornets team.

Allen said, “It was hard. I mean I knew it was in God’s plan so it affected me but I knew it was for a reason. But I used that time to support my team and uplift them since I was out. Having supporters and knowing it was in God’s plan helped.”

Kyle Johnson said, “I mean and that’s just her. I talked to a lot of people going back to that game last year. They said, ‘Why didn’t you pull her out?’ She wasn’t gonna come out. That’s just her mentality. I mean she’s gonna fight and fight and I would’ve had more issues if I would’ve pulled her out and even with her being hurt like that, the girls have so much more confidence in themselves having her on the court with them.”

She’s led her team back to the playoffs for her final year at Highland. Taylor’s playing her best basketball right now, scoring nearly 19 points a game.

“We have really high goals, we want to make it to state so we’re hoping to make it further than that and that’s what we’re working towards,” Taylor added.

There’s also a story behind the double zeros.

Allen explained, “Well I have three older sisters, and they’re 11, 22 and 33. So I either had to be 44 or double zero and I like being different so that’s what I went with.”

Highland takes on Westbrook in the Regional Quarterfinals tonight at 8:00 p.m. in Scurry County Coliseum.