Douglass’ Ayanna Darrington named WKYT Athlete of the Week

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - In just the sixth year of the school’s existence, the Frederick Douglass Lady Broncos are headed to the Sweet Sixteen.

“It’s a dream for us,” said Douglass head coach Daryl Moberly. “My girls, they worked hard for it. This has been the goal since last year since we got knocked out.”

Douglass punched their ticket on Saturday with a win over Lexington Catholic in the 11th Region Final. In that game, junior Ayanna Darrington scored 27 points and grabbed 29 rebounds.

“We did it as a team,” said Darrington. “It wasn’t just me. It was everybody on this bench working together. My team, it was all of us.”

“Ayana is a bucket,” said Moberly. “She has great character off the court. I think she’s under the radar, people don’t know about her, but I think they will soon. I think they’ll find out who she is.”

Prior to last weekend, Darrington had missed several weeks due to an ankle injury, including the 42nd District Tournament and first-round game of the regional. But when her team needed her, she returned to the court.

“We just needed to win, and I just felt like we needed to push through and keep playing,” said Darrington. “So that’s what I did.”

“We’ve been saving her and hoping we would get to this point, and we made it,” said Moberly. ‘She was ready to go. She was one hundred percent.”

Now at full strength, Darrington and the Douglass Lady Broncos are hoping to take their dream a step further.

“We are going to enjoy this moment right now and prepare for next week,” said Moberly. “Whoever we play, win or lose, we just come out playing hard.”

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