District titles and regional advantages on the line in Friday night showdowns
We know who will play in next week’s boys’ and girls’ 11th Region Tournaments, but there’s still some district championship hardware to be handed out and first-round home-court advantage to be won for the next stage.
No. 1 Lexington Catholic, 80-58 winners over Lexington Christian in Wednesday’s 43rd District boys’ semifinals, will face the only team who has beaten it this year when it takes on Paul Laurence Dunbar in the finals at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Lafayette High School. The game will be televised locally on WTVQ’s secondary digital channel, 36.2 (Spectrum Cable channel 138).
At the same time across town at Bryan Station High School, No. 6 Frederick Douglass will defend its 42nd District title against Henry Clay, which ousted Scott County from the postseason Wednesday night with a 71-54 victory.
In girls’ basketball, Tates Creek stunned top-seeded Dunbar 50-43 in the 43rd District semis and Frederick Douglass earned its first-ever finals bid to the 42nd District finals with a 33-21 win over Sayre. Tates Creek will face Lafayette in the finals. Douglass will take on Scott County in theirs. Both girls’ championships will be played ahead of the boys’ games at 6 p.m. Friday at their respective sites. The 43rd District girls’ game will also be on local TV.
District titles aren’t trivial for these teams, players and coaches say, even though their spots in next week’s larger tournaments are secured. In addition to a trophy, though, Friday’s winners earn home-court advantage in the 11th Region’s first-round games before the tournament moves onto Eastern Kentucky’s McBrayer Arena for the semifinals and finals.
“Having a region home game is very important,” Douglass Coach Jason Moseley said Wednesday as he watched Henry Clay set up their finals matchup. “It’s going to play a major part because this region is so tough.”
Douglass makes history
In his first season with the Broncos, Coach Daryl Moberly has led them to Douglass’s first 42nd District finals appearance in the school’s five years of existence.
It’s a good feeling.
“We’re the new kid on the block, so, you know, we’ve got to come for the title,” Moberly said after the Douglass girls stifled a Sayre team that had defeated it in the regular season. “Scott County’s been having it, and in the regular season, we beat them. No (42nd District) team had beaten them since 2016. … As long as they believe in themselves, I believe we can beat anybody.”
Douglass (executed the game plan against Sayre perfectly by cutting down their turnovers and limiting the Spartans’ standout sophomore Kylee Dennis’ touches. A Douglass defender, usually Kourtesy Lee, shadowed Dennis the entire night, making it tough for Sayre to get her the ball.
“It’s not even about scoring. It’s all about defense,” said junior guard Allison Wallace, who had 11 points in the 33-21 win over the Spartans. “That’s obviously how we won this game tonight. We were able to limit their star player.”
Ayanna-Sarai Darrington did not play in the regular-season loss to Sayre, but made her presence felt Wednesday with 12 points, 12 rebounds and two steals. Dennis led Sayre with nine points and nine rebounds.
“I told my team if we can rebound and limit our turnovers we should be able to win the game. And we did,” Moberly said.
Henry Clay moves on
If there’s any team that knows how dangerous a district semifinals game can be, it’s Henry Clay’s boys.
Last year, then ranked No. 3 in the state, the Devils’ season ended prematurely after a 108-104 double-overtime loss to Douglass.
With their 71-54 win Friday night over Scott County, this year’s Devils (12-6) achieved some redemption and have a chance for more in a rematch with the Broncos.
“We’ve just got to play hard and prep like we did for Scott County,” senior Darik Holman said. “We had a chip on our shoulder and we took care of business tonight.”
Henry Clay took command against the Cardinals early, establishing a 15-8 lead after one quarter and stretching it to a 34-16 edge at halftime.
The Blue Devils shot a blistering 42.9 percent from three-point range that included five three-pointers from Aziel Blackwell on his way to a game-high 23 points. Kanye Henderson and Holman added 17 points each. Henderson also had three three-pointers. Isaiah Haynes led Scott County (8-11) with 11 points.
“We’ve just got to lock in defensively and get stops, that’s the main thing,” Blackwell said of the key to beating Scott County and the approach to how they need to play against Douglass. “We can always run with anybody.”
Douglass swept Henry Clay in the regular season in games that the Blue Devils had their chances in but lost 68-57 and 78-70. Because of continued reschedules due to COVID-19 both of those games were played in the last week of the regular season.
“We want it,” Henry Clay Coach Daniel Brown said of the district title. “We’ve got a lot of tradition. Frederick Douglass, they’re the 42nd District champion. They’re the favorites. We’re just going to show up and play the best we can and see what happens.”
LexCath comes out hot
The last time Lexington Catholic’s boys faced Lexington Christian, the Eagles pushed the No. 1 team to overtime.
Wednesday, the Knights (20-1) jumped out two a 28-12 first quarter lead to help avoid a repeat and secure their spot in the 43rd finals with an 80-58 victory.
Ben Johnson scored a game-high 26 points, including going 4-of-6 from three-point range and Jack Gohmann added 21 and Hudson Sparks 12. Tanner Walton led the Eagles (12-12) with 19 points, Tyler Hall had 15 and Brayden Mirus scored 11.
Elsewhere in the 11th
The other 11th Region teams securing their places in next week’s tournament include the 41st District’s Franklin County and Frankfort on the boys’ side and Franklin County and Great Crossing on the girls’ side.
The Franklin County-Great Crossing girls’ title game will be at 6 p.m. Friday at Western Hills High School followed by the Franklin County-Frankfort matchup.
In the 44th District, Madison Southern and Madison Central advanced in both the boys’ and girls’ regionals. The girls’ teams face each other for the district title at 5:30 p.m. Friday at EKU’s McBrayer Arena with the boys’ title game following at 8:30 p.m.
Friday’s Lexington championships
42nd District at Bryan Station
Girls: Douglass vs. Scott County, 6 p.m.
Boys: Henry Clay vs. Douglass, 8 p.m.
43rd District at Lafayette
Girls: Tates Creek vs. Lafayette, 6 p.m.
Boys: Dunbar vs. Lexington Catholic, 8:30 p.m.
