Louisville signee Grace Mbugua was almost unstoppable against Cooper in the 2024 state tourney. (Tonia Witt/RiseUp Sports Photo)
What coach Billy Inmon calls a roller coaster season continues tonight for Danville Christian Academy when it faces Daviess County in the state tournament at Rupp Arena.
Louisville signee Grace Mbugua, the star of last year’s opening round at the state when she almost led DCA to a gigantic upset of Cooper, tore her ACL last summer and was not back to playing full time until mid-January. Guard Paisley Metz, the team’s best outside shooter, got sick and lost about 15 percent of her body weight. Achan Deng, a 6-6 freshman, did not get eligible until postseason play.
“It has been very difficult to get a rhythm but last week I think we finally found our rhythm,” Inmon said.
Mbugua has played 16 games for DCA and the 6-5 senior averages 22.3 points and 13.6 rebounds per game while shooting 54 percent from the field. Metz scores 14.3 points per game and is a 38 percent shooter from 3 with 96 3-pointers. Point guard Alaya Quisenberry contributes 13.6 points per game and sophomore Amauri Blackford adds 11.6 points and 10.9 rebounds per game.
Inmon hopes last year’s state tourney experience will help DCA as the only player not on that team was Quisenberry, a transfer from Danville.
“They are a bunch of teenage girls so you never know what will happen but they did not seem satisfied with winning the All A championship,” Inmon said. “They wanted to get back to Rupp but they also want to do something special this year in Rupp.”
Quisenberry could be the “difference maker” if Daviess County loads up to stop Mbugua as most teams try to do.
“She can take over a game by herself,” Inmon said about Quisenberry. “But Blackford had 18 points the other night and can be a presence. Both our shooters in the corner (Grace Myer and Mertz) are shooting a good six percent better than last year. So far we have been able to adjust when teams have just loaded up to stop Grace.
“I was worried Blackford would regress when we got Grace back but she has embraced her new role. I think she actually stepped her game up to a higher level. As a sophomore and such a sweetheart, I worried she would lose some aggressiveness when Grace got back. She can also hit a 3 and is also very underrated.”
Deng made significant plays in the 12th Region title game win over Rockcastle County.
“She had two blocks and two points and was a presence in there for us,” Inmon said. “She is not anywhere close to where she is going to be for us.”
