‘We’re finding a groove.’ Douglass girls’ basketball growing into 11th Region threat.
There’s a different feeling around the Frederick Douglass girls’ basketball team in 2022.
Last year, the Broncos became more competitive, getting some first-ever wins against 42nd District foes Scott County and Henry Clay on their way to a district finals and the program’s first berth in the 11th Region Tournament despite a 10-14 overall record.
This year, Douglass (11-5) already has the most wins in program history and a 5-1 district record. The Broncos will look to lock down a top postseason seed when they play Scott County on Jan. 21 and Sayre next month, two teams they’ve already beaten.
“It feels good,” said senior guard Allison Wallace, a West Alabama commit who was Douglass’s leading scorer each of the last two seasons and is now one three Broncos averaging double figures. “We used to be just one-on-one playing out there, and now we’re finding a groove together. That’s how we’re winning games.”
Against Henry Clay on Thursday night, Wallace and 6-foot-2 sophomore forward Ayanna-Sarai Darrington had double-doubles in their 72-62 victory. Wallace had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Darrington scored 21 points and pulled down 18 rebounds, seven of them on the offensive glass.
“We executed tonight a little bit better than what we’ve been doing,” said Coach Daryl Moberly, who is in his second season. “Rebounding has been tremendous for us this year, we’ve been trying to play a little bit more defense this year and more as a team.”
The emergence of freshman Niah Rhodes as a big-time scoring threat has made a difference as well. Rhodes leads the team with 15.8 points per game and scored 13 against Henry Clay that included making two of her three three-point attempts. She’s made 44 threes this season at a rate of 39.6 percent.
“She’s been every bit of what we wanted to come over here,” Moberly said. “We needed a shooter and she’s been filling it up. At the end of the day, I think Niah Rhodes can be one of the best shooters in Kentucky as a freshman.”
Rhodes took a hard foul on a drive in the third quarter and suffered an apparent thigh bruise that knocked her out of the game. The injury was not believed to be serious. With Rhodes out, the Broncos’ 21-point lead narrowed to single digits in the final quarter. Still, Douglass held on for a 10-point win.
“When a teammate goes down, the people on the bench have to step up. And that’s what they did,” Wallace said. “Our eighth-grader (Reagan Gregonis) came in for her and knocked down a free throw and just played the rest. That’s what you’ve got to do.”
Douglass got some hard lessons over the last two weeks, losing three out of four games, including a 77-62 loss to a Bryan Station team it defeated by roughly the same margin back on Dec. 11.
“Bryan Station played well. They hit every shot,” Moberly said. “You don’t want to lose, but that helped us. It was a wake-up call for us when it happened. …
“I feel like we’re playing well right now. We hit a couple of bumps in the road. … But it was a good win for us tonight to bounce back against Henry Clay.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2022 at 1:13 PM.
