Darrington comes up big as Douglass claims girls’ 11th Region championship

For the last three weeks, Frederick Douglass rested Ayanna Darrington in hopes that her nagging ankle injuries would recover enough to help Broncos contend for their first girls’ 11th Region Tournament championship.

On Saturday in her second game back from that layoff, the 6-foot-2 forward did more than that at Eastern Kentucky University’s Baptist Health Arena.

Darrington scored 27 points and grabbed an astounding 29 rebounds to help Douglass defeat Lexington Catholic 66-51 for the region title and a berth in this week’s Girls’ Sweet 16.

“We just had to push through and keep playing, and that’s what I did,” Darrington said. “I just knew we had to do something, so I did something.”

Trailing 13-12 midway through the second quarter, Darrington went to work with a personal 12-0 run against the Knights. All of the points came in the paint with two assists from Jermyra Christian, one each from Jaylee Knowles, Reagan Gregonis and Kate Baker and a putback bucket — one of her 14 offensive rebounds.

“We got some stops and we were a little bit bigger than them,” Douglass Coach Daryl Moberly said. “We got the ball to 21 (Darrington). She got a couple of buckets early and got rolling.”

The spurt helped Douglass take a 24-14 lead at halftime despite the shooting woes of the rest of the Broncos. While Darrington made eight of her 10 first-half field goal attempts, the rest of the team went 2-for-22, including 1-for-12 from three-point range.

“I’m glad we’ve got a strong big who can finish through contact and get ‘and-ones’ and get rebounds off the glass,” sophomore guard Niah Rhodes said of Darrington.

Lexington Catholic increased its defensive pressure on passes to Darrington early in the second half and forced three turnovers in an 8-0 run that cut the Douglass lead to 24-22 with 5:24 left in the third period.

However, over the next five minutes, Douglass responded with a 20-4 run this time led by their guards. Rhodes hit a pair of three-pointers and Christian scored seven more points during a stretch that expanded Douglass’ lead to 24 points just a few seconds before the start of the fourth quarter. Rhodes finished with 13 points. Christian had 12 points and eight assists.

“I was pretty frustrated. I felt like I couldn’t hit a shot, but I kept trying to think positive and stuff. I still had to pick up my teammates,” Rhodes said. “My teammates never told me to stop shooting. My coaches never told me to stop shooting. So, they have the confidence in me and we got the dub. That’s all that matters.”

Lexington Catholic made another run in the fourth quarter, but it could get no closer than 10 points. Katherine Truitt led the Knights with 23 points. Lucy Nash added nine.

LexCath Coach Lee Tegt led the Knights (19-11) to the program’s first 43rd District title and region finals since 2008.

“I thanked them — that’s the biggest thing — for the past four years,” Tegt said of his postgame talk. “We’ve got a lot of kids who have given a lot to us. When I look back at this team the biggest thing I’ll remember is the fight that they had. They never quit. And look how far we got.”

Darrington’s 29 rebounds unofficially rank in a tie for the state’s seventh-most in one game. Only 19 other female players in Kentucky high school basketball history have had 29 or more boards in a single contest, according to KHSAA records. The record is 36 by Pike County Central’s Amanda Collins in 1997.

Darrington has averaged a double-double each of the last two seasons, including going for 11.7 points and 10.1 rebounds per game this year, so she remembers having some great performances. Winning the 11th Region championship with her team and earning tournament most valuable player honors might top the list, though.

“It means a lot. It means we worked as a team and we did what we had to do and we did it,” she said. “We did it as a team. It wasn’t just me, it was everybody working together — my team.”

Moberly took over a Douglass team that had won only four games the season prior to his arrival three years ago. He won 10 games in the COVID-shortened 2021 season and went 19-9 last year. Douglass is 24-8 this season and has claimed the program’s first 42nd District and region titles.

“Before I came in, I knew I had to change the culture over here,” Moberly said. “I came in with a game plan. I knew our mindset. I knew it was going to take me two or three years. … The girls bought in and we’re here.”

All-Tournament Team

Frederick Douglass: Ayanna Darrington (MVP), Jermyra Christian, Kate Baker, Niah Rhodes. Lexington Catholic: Katherine Truitt, Mary Martin Hampton, Lydia Kennedy. Franklin County: Juliana Frazee, Rachel Shropshire. Madison Central: Eden Carter, Bailey Hensley. Madison Southern: Hadley French. Bryan Station: Albertine Cyuzuzo. Tates Creek: Miracle Morbley. Great Crossing: Olivia Tierney.

Wednesday

Mingua Beef Jerky Girls’ Sweet 16

At Rupp Arena

8:30 p.m.: Frederick Douglass (24-8) vs. 13th Region Champion (North Laurel/Jackson County)*

*Game at 3 p.m. Sunday.