You can’t keep Dayona Davis out of the gym and once she gets there you have to kick her out. Every day. No days off.
“I remember a snow blizzard,” the Truman sophomore guard said. “My mom was not letting me out the house. I had to sneak out [to Gauchos Gym]. I had to get some shots up.”
Mustangs girls’ basketball John Burke said Davis, a shooting guard, is in the gym at 7:30 a.m. and will stay until 7 p.m. after school. She can’t leave until she makes 400 to 500 shots. Reps until her arms fall off she said.
“She has me exhausted, but she’s worth it,” Burke said.
Davis’ work ethic combined with her natural talent has allowed her a take a big step forward from her successful first season. She increased her strength in the offseason so she can be a better defender and score after contact on her was to the rim. Burke said she also added a floater and improved her pull-up jumper.
It is noticeable
“She is always doing something to help the team out,” senior center Brianna Alberga said.
Davis, who plays her summer ball with the Gauchos, is averaging 20.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per contest for a Truman team that is off to a 7-3 start. She averaged just 12.3 points a game as a freshman. Fully adjusting to the high school game took time and plenty of effort.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” Davis said. “I’ll tell you that. It’s just a transition. I thought I had to crow up over the summer.”
She dropped in 27 points to beat Midwood at home before Christmas and 19 in a loss to upstate power Ossining over the weekend. Davis is a serious threat from three, something that has college coaches starting to take notice. Davis has already received letters from Fordham, DePaul, St. Joseph’s University, Monmouth Albany, Winthrop, Indiana and Old Dominion, among others.
Davis hasn’t gotten to this point by herself. She said she learned and has tried to mimic former Mustangs point guard Lisa Fields. Senior guard Aneisha Lyons taking over the floor general duties and averaging nearly eights assists a contest has also given Davis the freedom to score and flourish
“It helps me out,” Lyons said. “I don’t have to do as much [in games].”
Her backcourt mate is doing all she a can to improve and keep pushing her game to new heights. Davis isn’t caught up with the attention that is beginning. It’s just basketball and more basketball for here
Every day. No days off.
“She loves to be in the gym,” Alberga said. “She is always playing ball. I don’t think anything else comes before that with her.”
