‘This means the world to us.’ Henry Clay girls, Douglass boys spring tournament upsets.
When it’s win-or-go-home time, up-and-down seasons and all the tough losses don’t matter. Neither does your postseason seeding if you show up and show out in the district semifinals.
Henry Clay (16-12) did just that at the expense of Frederick Douglass on Tuesday by ousting the second-seeded Broncos in a convincing 63-52 win in the first half of a girls-boys 42nd District Tournament semifinals doubleheader at Bryan Station High School.
In the nightcap, the Frederick Douglass boys, a No. 3 seed like Henry Clay, upended second-seeded Bryan Station with a spirited 13-3 run early in the fourth quarter on the way to a 58-51 win.
Blue Devils’ defense key to victory
Henry Clay’s upset win seemed improbable. The Blue Devils had been swept by Douglass in the regular season by 24 points on Dec. 6 and by 10 on Jan. 13 and began this first season under new head coach Ashley Garrard on a four-game losing streak.
“The only thing that matters is that we’re growing every day,” Garrard said after the win. “We’re not the same team that played them in January or December. … It only matters right now. It’s 0-0 today, and, hey, may the best team win. I’m proud of them.”
Henry Clay jumped to a big lead early, going up by as many as 11 points, 23-12, early in the second quarter, a run that included a number of fast-break finishes by sophomore guard Lydia Van Metre who finished the game with 15 points.
“The past couple games, we started behind and that definitely affected our game,” Van Metre said. “Kennedy (Williams) said in the group chat, she said ‘If we get on top early, we’re gonna win this game.’”
Williams, Henry Clay’s lone senior, did her part, scoring in the post almost at will for a game-high 24 points.
“You get that ball inside to her and it’s either going to be a foul or a bucket,” Garrard said of Williams, who was 9-of-12 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line.
Douglass closed the deficit to 32-30 on the first made basket of the second half, but Henry Clay held the Broncos scoreless for more than five minutes, forcing nine turnovers as they built a 44-30 lead with 2:10 left in the third quarter.
Freshman guard Ariyanna Sutton and junior forward Lauren Thomas led the team with six steals each. Thomas also had two blocks and made some key fourth-quarter stops.
“I was a defensive player, so, I tell them if you’re not going to play defense, you won’t play for me,” Garrard said. “And they all bought in to that. … You play hard. You leave it all out there. You’re going to be fine.”
Douglass (19-9) was led by Ayanna-Sarai Darrington’s 16 points and 11 rebounds. Niah Rhodes and Allison Wallace added 15 and 10 points, respectively.
Henry Clay went 2-9 last year. The Blue Devils’ last trip to the 42nd District finals came in 2019.
“This just means the world to us,” Van Metre said. “I mean, we were nothing last year, and we were getting blown out by teams we’re blowing out now. We’re just a completely different team.”
Henry Clay will play the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between Sayre and Bryan Station. The finals will be at 6 p.m. Friday.
Broncos catch fire in fourth quarter
When Bless Kamuena made a three-pointer from the left wing to put Bryan Station up 36-31 as time ran out in the third quarter, it seemed the Defenders had taken hold of this district semifinal.
But back-to-back three-pointers early in the fourth quarter by Tylon Webb and Kai Simpson and a couple of Bryan Station turnovers helped shift some momentum and got a large Douglass fan contingent on its feet.
Moments later, Simpson tied the game at 39 on a drive to the basket.
But it was Simpson’s court-long football throw that truly signaled the tide had turned completely. After Webb scooped up a defensive rebound, he shoveled it along the baseline to Simpson, who spotted Tyson Barrett’s run down the court. Simpson heaved the basketball about 80 feet (26-ish yards) off his back foot. Barrett caught it in a leap that brought him under the rim and layed it in to put the Broncos ahead 41-39 with 4:57 left in the game.
“Coach (Nathan) McPeek might make me the next QB 1, I don’t know,” Simpson joked.
“I just knew I had to go get it,” Barrett said of his reaction.
The Broncos (16-14) split with the Defenders (12-12) in their two regular-season games. Douglass’s 14 losses had come due to some uneven and head-scratching performances. But there’s no secret to their successful outings.
“As it got going in that fourth quarter, we started to have fun, and we started to play to win,” Douglass Coach Jason Moseley said. “We started to do what we needed to do on the defensive end.”
Getting stops helped the Broncos push the tempo to their liking. They outscored Bryan Station 27-16 in the fourth quarter, more than doubling their offensive output in any of the previous three.
“I think our defense started everything, and we just built off that energy,” Barrett said.
An offensive rebound set up Simpson’s fourth three-pointer of the game for a 44-39 lead with 4:32 left. By that time Douglass had gotten so hot from the field, Simpson’s three banked in off the glass. Douglass was 8-for-10 from the field in the fourth.
Kamuena led Bryan Station with 12 points. The Defenders played without leading scorer J’Marious Lindsay who was serving the second game of a suspension due to getting a two technical fouls against Lexington Christian last week. Simpson finished with a game-high 24 points for the Broncos. Barrett added 18.
“I feel like we’re hitting our peak,” Barrett said. “We’re playing our best basketball right now.”
His coach thinks so too.
“The big thing is that everybody counted us out,” Moseley said. “They didn’t think we’d make the region, and now we’ve made the region. But we’re not satisfied with just getting to the region. We want a chance to come in here Friday night and prove we belong.”
Douglass will play the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between Scott County and Henry Clay. The finals will be at 8 p.m. Friday.
This story was originally published February 23, 2022 at 7:57 AM.
