ST. LOUIS — The word "dominant" doesn't quite do justice to the Incarnate Word basketball program.
Their dominance culminated on Thursday night with a 75 to 32 win over Ursuline on the road.
It was the program's 124th straight victory. That passes Strafford High School's run that ended in 2019 to claim the new title of longest girls high school basketball winning streak in Missouri history.
The Red Knights have not lost a game since Feb. 8, 2020. In fact, no player on their current roster has ever lost a game at Incarnate.
"Our goal is to win the state championship, but to win this many games and have this record, it's fantastic. I'm lost for words. But what I love about it the most is that it's not just one team, one person... there's a lot of people involved. Different players, different coaches and different seasons. And it's just fantastic that a whole community can be a part of this," Incarnate Word head coach Dan Rolfes said.
"We worked really hard for this. Even people in the past, they worked really hard for us to get to this point. So we're really excited for coach and for each other," Incarnate senior Abbie Sextro said.
"It means so much to us. We put in so much work that people don't see on and off the court. We work as a team every day. We push each other in practice to make each other better, and it all paid off in the end," Incarnate senior Zoe Best said.
"We've been doing this for four years, three years, two years, one year... And we all know how to play as a team. We've worked hard for this," Incarnate senior Nevaeh Caffey said.
The Red Knights have won the last six state championships (with 2020 canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). And if you ask them, another state title is still the ultimate goal of this year.
"We've never spent one minute talking about it (the streak). We've always just talked about preparing to win a state championship and preparing to win games, not a specific number," Rolfes said.
"We just want to finish strong. We've done all this for a reason, so we might as well get the win and win state. That's the goal," Caffey said.
Incarnate Word's streak is the longest active streak in the country. And it's another indicator that this program is one of the best in America.
"I definitely think that it solidifies our spot in the national media among the top girls programs in the country. I think it's good for St. Louis basketball as well. Just to be in the names with teams all over the country, and schools in California and New York to know what Incarnate basketball is, is really an honor," Rolfes said.
And the players on this roster will carry the history of their streak with them for the rest of their lives.
"It'll be fun to tell my kids and brag to them a little bit," Sextro said.
"It's going to mean so much to carry that along with me for the rest of my life. I made so many memories with all these fantastic girls and my great coach. So it's going to mean a lot in 20 years," Best said.