CHOCTAW — Ryan Maloney reviewed Choctaw’s girls basketball history and noticed something missing.

The Yellowjackets experienced years of success with four state titles spread from 1945-2017, but they had never managed a perfect regular season.

With this year’s schedule winding down, Choctaw’s coach realized his team was on the brink of a milestone, so he used it as motivation.

“A couple games ago, Coach Maloney told us that no one has gone undefeated yet, and he wanted it to be us,” said senior wing Kate Davis. “And we got it done tonight.”

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The Yellowjackets zipped past Jenks, 53-35, capping their golden undefeated regular season Tuesday night at home with a District 6A-4 crown. Choctaw (22-0 overall, 14-0 district) has thrived in the first year of Class 6A district play, defeating every district opponent twice.

Heading into playoffs, the Yellowjackets are the sole unbeaten 6A team.

Maloney credited his team’s senior core: Bre Curry, Brooke Curry, Alaura Pruitt, Shelbie Pherigo and Davis.

“Tonight said a lot about it, being senior night and having five super-dedicated, high-IQ team leaders like that,” Maloney said. “It goes a long way in those close games, so I count on those kids as much as I’ve ever counted on any players. To have their leadership and their poise, it’s been a great treat this year.”

The Yellowjackets could have let Tuesday’s situation rattle them. Fresh emotions from their pregame senior night ceremony lingered as they stepped onto the court for tipoff, and Jenks appeared ready to play spoiler. The Trojans (13-10, 8-6) opened the game on a 7-1 run with a quick start from junior Addison Dodder, who capitalized on Choctaw’s defensive focus on Rice signee Jill Twiehaus.

Then Choctaw extinguished the spark. Distributing the ball among seven scorers, the Yellowjackets carried a 28-22 lead into halftime and outscored Jenks, 25-13, in the second half. Oklahoma Baptist signee Davis paced Choctaw with 16 points, while Brooke Curry followed with 10.

Davis said rebounding led to the Yellowjackets’ improvement.

“That’s why we were losing – we were giving them offensive rebounds in transition,” Davis said. “Coach called a timeout and told us what we needed to do, and we just focused up and got it done.”

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Choctaw has shown this grit throughout the season. A glance at their schedule reveals several games decided by close margins: two overtime wins, along with a 48-46 victory against Broken Arrow and a 48-45 triumph over Bixby. As one of only two District 4 teams near the Oklahoma City metro, the Yellowjackets had the extra challenge of frequent trips to the Tulsa area, but they prevailed in every road environment.

Then they solidified their milestone at home.

Although Choctaw fans roared and applauded their undefeated team, the players calmly walked through their postgame high-five line with the Trojans as if it was any other victory. The Yellowjackets have business on their minds, and after missing the 2023 state tournament, they understand they can’t take their standing for granted.

“I told the girls, winning the district is most important and then putting ourselves in the best situation coming into playoffs,” Maloney said. “We all know we’re 0-0 now. You did your work in the regular season, but now it’s playoffs time, and it’s going to be exciting.”

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Boys basketball: Choctaw 73, Jenks 67

Valentine’s Day arrived early in Choctaw.

On his senior night, Ja’Mon Valentine delivered a team-high 20 points in the Yellowjackets’ 73-67 overtime victory against Jenks. Like the girls, Choctaw’s boys basketball team (18-4, 12-2) won a District 6A-4 championship.

With fewer than 30 seconds left, Valentine drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 60, sending it into overtime. Then he scored seven of Choctaw’s 13 overtime points.

Senior guard Camden Hyman also stepped up with 14 points, including six free throws.

Jenks finished the regular season 14-9 overall and 8-6 in district play.

Hallie Hart covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Hallie? She can be reached at hhart@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at@halliehart. Sign up forThe Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Hallie's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing adigital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How Choctaw girls basketball achieved first undefeated regular season