An Oklahoma girls basketball team returned its championship after discovering it actually lost the title game

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma — The Academy of Classical Christian Studies high school girls basketball team in Oklahoma City returned to the court this week, their first practice since last season’s division championship game, where they hit a buzzer-beater against Apache High School that both ended the game, and started it all.

After seemingly winning the title in the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, Academy head coach Brendan King went home that same night and watched the game tape. At one point in the game, there had been some confusion about the scoreboard.  

“As soon as I walked out of the locker room, my stomach kind of turned into knots. And I said, ‘I’m going to need to know if we really won this game or not,'” King told CBS News.

So, just to be sure, he recounted every basket and discovered his team had actually lost. The game had ended with Academy winning 44-43, but King discovered the true score should have been 43-42, with Apache High coming out on top. 

“It really tore me to pieces,” King said. “It really did.”

Technically, it didn’t matter because league rules state that once a game is done, the score is the score, there’s no changing it. 

But King decided to tell his team anyway. And when they heard what had happened, the consensus was unanimous.

“It would have felt wrong, I think, to have taken the trophy, regardless,” one Academy player told CBS News. 

“It was a really good teaching moment for us to just be, like, this is not the whole point,” another Academy player added. 

So, the Academy High team made the unprecedented decision to appeal their own crowning victory. They asked that it be taken away and awarded to their competition, Apache High. The league agreed, and King hand-delivered the championship plaque.

“Just really special that he came out and did that,” an Apache High player said.

Apache head coach Amy Merriweather says her team is glad to have the title, but even happier for the hope that came with it.

“It showed us, you know, there are still good people in this world,” Merriweather said. “It’s something we’ll always remember.”