‘Tenacious’ Broncos give Frederick Douglass the look of a girls basketball contender
Midway through the season, Frederick Douglass affirmed its status as Lexington’s top girls high school basketball team with a convincing 61-49 road win Wednesday over Lafayette.
The Broncos (12-4, 3-0) are ranked No. 13 in the latest Kentucky High School Girls Basketball Media Poll and lead the 42nd District standings. Lafayette (15-3, 7-0) has sealed up the top seed in the 43rd District, but Douglass represented its toughest challenge to date.
“As every game goes by, we’re getting better and better and getting more confidence in ourselves,” said senior guard Kate Baker, whose 15 points on five 3-pointers helped break open a game that was tied 20-20 with 1:28 left till halftime and evolved into a 46-32 Douglass advantage by the end of the third quarter.
Baker knocked down her first 3-pointer just before the break to spark a 12-1 run that straddled halftime. She shook her defender with a huge step-back move and launched a high-arcing shot that swished cleanly through the net.
“It kind of got me warmed up,” the Transylvania commit said. “I think that was the shot that kind of brought the energy back. … I think we picked it up. We moved the ball a little bit more and the energy was better.”
Douglass needs energy for its style of play, which includes a hectic pressing defense that attempts to speed the game up and make opponents uncomfortable as its offense looks to run at every opportunity.
“These kids that we’ve got are tenacious,” Douglass coach Daryl Moberly said. “Now we’re big on deflections, so we have a deflection chart. I think we maybe got 20 deflections tonight.”
Douglass outscored Lafayette 30-12 in the paint and outrebounded the Generals 33-23 in large part due to the play of 5-foot-11 sophomore Jaelee Knowles, who led the team with 21 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks. She picked up her first college offer from Western Kentucky back in October.
“Jaelee is just all-around,” Moberly said. “She can bring the ball up the court and rebound well. But everybody sees it if you really know basketball — her defensive blocking is the best part of her game.”
Douglass held Lafayette to 30.4 percent from the field while it made half its shots. Tess Nelson led the Generals with 16 points. Abbey Popham added 11.
Douglass’ four losses include two to out-of-state teams and tight December contests against No. 4 Franklin County and No. 7 Assumption. Franklin County, the defending 11th Region champion, topped Douglass 51-49 on a buzzer-beater at Madison Central on Dec. 14.
Despite that loss, Moberly believes Douglass signaled it would be a contender in the 11th again this year, a prospect he thinks critics discounted after the graduation of Ayanna-Sarai Darrington and the move out of state by Niah Rhodes, the Broncos’ two leading scorers last season.
“I feel like people counted us out a little bit. It was a good test for us,” Moberly said of the Franklin County game. “We showed people what we could still do over here no matter who is in our stall. It just so happened we fell to a last-second shot, but I like our chances, man. I’m really proud of this team, right now.”
The Broncos have the toughest part of their schedule ahead of them, including undefeated No. 10 Madison Central in Richmond on Feb. 7 and back-to-back home games against No. 3 Cooper and No. 1 Sacred Heart, the four-time defending state champions, to close the regular season.
LCA advances in girls All “A” Classic
Lexington Christian routed Mayfield 51-21 Wednesday to advance from the first round of the girls All “A” Classic at the Owensboro Sportscenter.
Piper Graham led three Eagles in double figures with 15 points to go with 10 rebounds and five assists. Chapel Brown and Ella Gabbert added 13 and 12 points, respectively.
LCA began the game with an 18-4 first quarter and was never threatened by the 1st Region representative.
The Eagles next face Bishop Brossart in the quarterfinals at 11 a.m. EST on Friday. Games are available to stream on a pay-per-view basis via Go.PrepSpin.com.
In the boys All “A” in Owensboro, Sayre was scheduled to take on Louisville Holy Cross at 1 p.m. Thursday.
