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'A lot of history being made': Red Lake boys follow girls in trip to Class A state basketball tournament

RED LAKE-The line to buy shirts at N8tive De$ignz swelled at about 10 a.m. Wednesday

"This is by far our busiest day," said Mia Long, the student manager for Red Lake High School's student-run T-shirt business. "It's been pretty crazy here."

The storefront-a couple of cafeteria tables with 15 different shirt designs in Red Lake colors-is set up right in front of the Red Lake gym.

On Wednesday, that was the site of the send off for the Warrior boys basketball team as they began their trek to the Class A state tournament in Minneapolis. The Warriors take on top-seeded Minneapolis North Thursday in an 11 a.m. quarterfinal game at Williams Arena.

"A lot of people are pretty excited about it," said Long, a sophomore at Red Lake High School. She said she couldn't find a ride to make the trip this year but plans on following Thursday's game on the radio.

For Red Lake, it was the second-such celebration for a basketball team in as many weeks. The Lady Warriors girls basketball team also qualified for the state tournament this season-their first such trip to state. The girls team bowed out of the tournament early. But the outcome, at least for Red Lake fans, wasn't as important as the positive exposure heading to state gives to the Red Lake community.

"Having the boys go to state, and the girls go to state, is huge for us for this region. Especially for such a small school," said Victoria Irons Graves, who runs the Red Lake School District's community education program.

Graves made the trip to Minneapolis last week to watch the girls team. She said she can't afford another trip to watch the boys this week, but also plans on following the games from afar.

Red Lake boys head coach Roger White, whose daughter Grace was a star on the girls basketball team this year, said having these celebrations never gets old. The boys team has done one each year they have been to state-four years in a row-and there was a similar one for the girls team last week.

"It's different every year," he said. "It's always a goal of a team to make a state tournament, and we're fortunate enough to have made it four years in a row."

Red Lake senior guard Rob McLain Jr. said the success of both teams this season creates even more buzz around the school and the reservation in general.

"It's a real big deal," he said. "Both teams have been working real hard trying to get to state. For the girls, this being their first year, us being our fourth, there's a lot of history being made for both boys and girls teams. The girls did a terrific job last week representing themselves and the Red Lake Reservation and we're looking to do the same thing."

During Wednesday's pep fest, each member of both the boys and girls basketball teams received a copy of "Warrior Nation"-Anton Treuer's book about the history of the Red Lake Band and its people.

White then said a brief few words about each player before each person in attendance at the assembly had the chance to line up and shake each player and coaches' hand one-by one.

The team got on the bus after that and departed for the Twin Cities with a police escort off the reservation.

"Our community is great," White said. "They really support these boys through and through, whether it's wins or losses, they come and support us. We have a great fanbase. As you saw last week, they went down Thursday, watched Friday and there were like 100 cars back to watch us in the section finals."

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/4238868-lot-history-being-made-red-lake-boys-follow-girls-trip-class-state-basketball

 

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