Douglass claims first girls’ basketball district title with win over Bryan Station
Led by senior point guard Jermyra Christian’s 20 points, Frederick Douglass defeated Bryan Station 56-43 on Friday at The Farm to claim the girls’ program’s first 42nd District Tournament championship.
“It’s taken us three years to get us one, but these girls worked hard for it. They deserve it,” said Douglass Coach Daryl Moberly, who took over the Broncos in 2020 and quickly turned them into a winner after a 10-14 season in a COVID-19 shortened Year 1.
Later Friday evening, the Douglass boys’ basketball team won its fourth consecutive district title with a 69-39 win over Scott County to complete the championship sweep for the Broncos.
But the Douglass girls’ team looked vulnerable early with 6-foot-2 Douglass forward Ayanna Darrington still sidelined with an ankle injury.
Bryan Station’s size advantage in the post helped the Defenders keep the game close in the first half, despite trailing the entire second period.
Back-to-back offensive rebounds and putbacks by Kailynn Gentry and Albertine Cyuzozo pulled Bryan Station within 26-24 at halftime. And a quick foul put Cyuzozo at the line to tie the game 26-26 just seconds into the third quarter.
Cyuzozo, a 6-foot-3 sophomore forward, scored 12 of her game-high 23 points in the first half and grabbed 13 rebounds. For the game, Station had 18 offensive rebounds and 18 second-chance points.
“The first half we were getting killed on the boards,” Moberly lamented.
But a 12-2 Broncos’ run stretching from midway through the third period to midway through the fourth snuffed Station’s chances for an upset of the district’s top seed.
Christian scored six points during the breakaway. And Niah Rhodes scored eight of her 10 points in the second half despite making only one of her nine three-point tries.
Rhodes, one of the state’s most prolific three-point shooters, always has a green light from her coach and her teammates, but Christian knows what she has to do when those shots don’t fall.
“I feel like I’ve got to keep going to the rack,” said Christian, who was named the tournament’s MVP. “If she’s not on, I’ve got to be on.”
Perhaps more importantly, Douglass held dynamic Bryan Station sophomore Jailenn Green to just two points in the second half. She scored eight in the first.
“I told my team that we can’t let her get started,” Moberly said. “She’s a great player, but we had good team effort on the defensive end.”
The Broncos got better on the boards, too, eventually outrebounding Bryan Station 44-37 with a boost off the bench from Jaylee Knowles, who grabbed 10. Starter Amayah Maxwell stepped up with eight rebounds, while Victory Sledge contributed some interior offense with 16 points.
Next up, Douglass hosts Great Crossing first-round game of the 11th Region Tournament on Monday. Bryan Station travels to 41st District champion Franklin County.
This story was originally published February 25, 2023 at 8:34 AM.
