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Unbelievable: Blue Valley North’s Davis powers through endless barrage of double, triple teams to grind out multiple state championships with the Mustangs

The only thing that has ever really stopped Jaliya Davis from dominating games during her high school basketball career happened before she ever played a minute for the Blue Valley North Mustangs.

Davis missed most of her freshman season as she recovered from a broken foot. The 6-2 forward returned just in time to elevate an 11-9 squad into making a run to the state tournament.

Although the Mustangs would lose in their opening round game against the top seed in the 6A bracket that year, this would end up being the first of four trips to state for the Mustangs with Davis leading the way.

Davis ultimately concluded her high school basketball career on March 15 by leading her team to its second state title in three seasons. She has spent the last four years being a double-double machine for the Mustangs, even as opposing defenses threw as many bodies as they could spare in her path to the basket.

After the second state title win, the next two weeks would become a endless series of awards recognizing Davis and her domination on the basketball court.

Blue Valley North head coach Ann Fritz is still amazed, although not surprised, but the growing list of accolades Davis has received.

“Gatorade Player of the Year, McDonald’s All-American, All-State, all-classes,” Fritz said. “It’s just amazing what she’s been able to accomplish and still keep a level head, still be down to earth.”

Now Davis can add KSHSAA Covered All-State Top 5 selection to that growing list of achievements.

At that first state tournament outing, Blue Valley North suffered a 54-51 loss against an Olathe North team which sported an undefeated record at that point. Instead it would be Washburn Rural which would knock off the Eagles in the semifinals, putting the Junior Blues on its way to winning the 6A state championship.

Following that experience, Davis returned for her sophomore season on a mission to not only lead the Mustangs back to state, but to finish the year hoisting the state championship trophy above her head.

Blue Valley North’s Jaliya Davis fights through a double team during a game in 2023. | Mac Moore KSHSAA Covered

Davis, along with fellow sophomore Aubrey Shaw, would power the Mustangs to a 21-4 campaign and a trip to the state championship game. They decisively beat Wichita Southeast by 12 points in the state opener before holding off Derby in a 50-42 win in the state semifinals.

The Mustangs won a low-scoring battle with Washburn Rural in the 2023 state championship game, edging the Junior Blues 35-34.

Davis had 9 points in the game on four total shots, while Logan Parks led the team with 12 points and Nyla Hale earned 4 of her 6 points from the free-throw line, including tying and go-ahead scores in the finals seconds to clinch the victory.

Hale graduated while Parks missed most of the next season with an injury before not being on the roster this season. Parks earned her own Gatorade Player of the Year award for volleyball, the sport she’ll play next year at Stanford.

In addition to those players missing from action, Davis’ older sister Tyara injured her knee during the season after falling on some ice. She returned to action in time for an undefeated stretch throughout February, but the Mustangs’ decrease in depth played a role in the team not being able to return to the state finals.

Blue Valley North’s Jaliya Davis shoots over a defender during a game against St. Thomas Aquinas. | Mac Moore KSHSAA Covered

Blue Valley North reached the state semifinals before top-seeded Shawnee Mission South denied the Mustangs a second straight state championship battle with Washburn Rural. The Raiders won 65-49 before going on to knock off the Junior Blues 47-37 in the finals.

Davis posted a stat line of 16 points on nine shots and 7 rebounds in the semifinals. She followed up with a 30-point, 11-rebound effort in the third-place game to lead the Mustangs to a 72-56 win over Derby.

Tyara graduated, going on to play basketball at Harris-Stowe State, while Blue Valley North returned this year with Davis and Shaw continuing their two-woman show as the Mustangs’ top performers. Davis averaged 23 points and 7 rebounds while Shaw added 17 points and 8 rebounds per game.

While the Mustangs did not have quite the same depth as the 2023 state title season, they did have better luck staying healthy with their eight-player rotation this season compared to last.

Senior guard Ashley Alverson and junior guard Gabi Hinson each added another 9 points per game to the team’s scoring. Senior guard Jada Farrington, a Abilene Christian commit for soccer, and senior guard Delia Gregory, a seven-time track state champion who is committed to Princeton in that sport, gave Blue Valley North speed and athleticism with those two joining Alverson as defensive stalwarts for the team.

“Jada Farrington, Delia Gregory, Ashley Alvorson – you can just tell they work so hard on the defensive end,” Fritz said. “They scrap and fight, and it wins you championships.”

Blue Valley North’s Jaliya Davis huddles up with her teammates during a game this year. | Mac Moore KSHSAA Covered

Blue Valley North entered state with the third seed and an 18-4 record, although none of their losses were against in-state teams. The Mustangs ended up getting their long-awaited rematch with Washburn Rural, albeit in the opening round. They held off the Junior Blues in a 45-39 victory, led by 26-point, 12-rebound outing for Davis.

Blue Valley North rolled over Wichita Heights 65-42 in the state semifinals. Shaw led the team in scoring with 23 points in the game, but Davis’ 20 points and 17 rebounds also played a big factor in the Mustangs handling the Falcons so decisively.

Davis closed out her career with a vintage performance in the state championship game. She racked up 22 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. Shaw added another 17 points, a game-high 12 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal.

Despite Davis delivering another dominant performance, she quickly deflected praise for the victory.

“Our other players stepped up and played big roles in this game,” Davis said. “Being on my off-side, they were able to get some bunnies and easy opportunities. And they got that because we stay together as a team.”

The Panthers kept the game close through one quarter, but the Mustangs took off with a 18-8 scoring advantage in the second quarter and followed up with a 20-10 margin in the third quarter. Blue Valley North used its defense to squeeze the life out of the game in the fourth quarter while pushing its advantage above 20 points.

Blue Valley North’s Jaliya Davis prepares to jump for a layup against Derby during the 6A state championship game. | Scott Paske/KSHSAA Covered

Derby tried everything to slow down Davis, but she calmly racked up points while also providing easy opportunities for her teammates.

“I think I’ve come a long way in dealing with it,” Davis said. “Obviously, it’s pretty frustrating being front- and back-guarded. But I also think it makes a lot of easy opportunities for my teammates.”

While Davis has started to get used to seeing these double, and sometimes triple, teams by opponents, her coach is not sure she’s ever seen anything like it.

“It’s just unbelievable,” Fritz said. “I’ve never seen it as long as I’ve been coaching, two to three girls guarding one person and she still gets the job done. There’s times where there’s three girls on her. They’re just hanging all over her and she’s still able to execute.”

Fritz said that type of defensive strategy has become the norm over the last two seasons.

Blue Valley North’s Jaliya Davis passes the ball out of a double team during a game against St. Thomas Aquinas. | Mac Moore KSHSAA Covered

“People just don’t understand what she goes through, night in and night out,” Fritz said. “It’s her shirt getting pulled on, (players) wrapped around her neck, pushed around and she just keeps battling.”

Fritz said it’s how Davis battled that challenge that really sets her apart from other players. It’s the toughness Davis showed fighting through that every game.

“It’s like she didn’t have an off game,” Fritz said. “She doesn’t have an off game is what amazes me every day. She just brings her toughness and her energy. To grind her junior and senior years, especially day in and day out, is very impressive.”

In addition to the development of her in-game skills over the last four years, Fritz said she’s been impressed with how Davis has developed as a leader for the Mustangs.

Blue Valley North’s Jaliya Davis low fives a teammates during a game this season. | Mac Moore KSHSAA Covered

“Her leadership and her mentality, she’s just really matured as a person,” Fritz said. “She’s also really improved her perimeter game and she’s a great ball handler. We even started doing stuff with her bringing the ball up the court and playing point, just getting her away from the rim. She’s really just improved her all around game. It’s just harder to double team her when she’s away from the rim.”

Off the court, Davis is a 4.0 student who had her pick of Division I schools to play at this fall. With the likes of South Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma recruiting her, she had a tough decision that came to a head right before this season started.

In November, Davis decided to stay close to home as she committed to the University of Kansas.

Fritz said the close-to-home factor likely played a role, but it really came down to Davis finding a strong connection she had with the individuals that make up the Jayhawks’ program.

“The coaches and the team, she just really gelled with the KU coaches,” Davis said. “She met a lot of great people, a lot of great coaches. It was not an easy decision for her. It was a tough time.”

Before she heads to Lawrence to don the crimson and blue, Davis will get the chance to celebrate her high school playing days with a trip through the circuit of all-star games that follows the conclusion of the high school basketball postseason. Davis will be in Brooklyn over the weekend as she prepares to play in the 2025 McDonald’s All-American Girls Basketball Game April 1 at 6:30 p.m at the Barclays Center. The game will broadcast on ESPN2, with the boys game following at 9 p.m.

Blue Valley North head coach Ann Fritz talks with Jaliya Davis during a break in the action. | Mac Moore KSHSAA Covered