Winnebago HS Girls Basketball Are In The Semi-finals of the 2021 Nebraska State Tournament

Photos via Winnebago Indian News

By Dan Ninham

Winnebago High School defeated top-seeded and second-ranked Grand Island Central Catholic 48-46 on March 3rd to advance to the semifinals of the Class C-1 Nebraska State Girls Basketball Tournament.

The Lady Indians scored seven points in the last 67 seconds to advance to one more game before the state championship. It is the school’s first girls state tournament appearance since 1990.

Winnebago (16-10) will play North Bend at 9 a.m. Friday at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Senior Natasha Deal scored 16, senior Keisha Snyder 14, senior Madeline Cleveland 9, sophomore Sylvia Valentino 7, and sophomore Lakyalah Kearnes 2.

Winnebago HS third year Head Coach Treivan Bear recounted the final part of the game: “About three minutes left in the game we were down two and the girls were spent, exhausted. It was starting to show in their body language on the court, it almost looked like they we’re giving up. And we had a bunch of time left. I only had two timeouts and I turned around to my coaches and they said ‘burn one man, they need it.’ So we did.”

“We told ‘em, ‘right now girls. How bad do you want it? You guys are looking like you’re giving up. Go hard for three more minutes. We got this.’ And we said, like we have been saying all season, ‘together on 3’ and we broke it down. We went out and they did what they needed to do to get the win.”

“They struggle like any other team, sometimes more than we like, but when it matters, they’ve been doing enough to pull out the wins,” added Treivan.  

Treivan Bear, 27, is a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. He is a football coach at the junior and high school level and is in his third year as head girls’ basketball coach.

“I first started coaching through the Boys & Girls Club here on our reservation a year after I finished high school,” said Treivan. “My first coaching opportunity was Pee Wee Football where we would always have successful seasons but always fell short in the finals. During that time I would also coach boys youth basketball. I had a third grade team and stuck with them all the way up until sixth grade. Eventually I would work my way into the public school as an assistant junior high coach for a few years and now I am the head coach for junior high football.”

“In 2018 I got the opportunity to coach the high school girls basketball program as a co-head coach. In 2019 I was a co-head coach once again, and this year I am now the head coach. In high school I played football and basketball at Winnebago. Our AD now was my football coach and without him giving me the opportunity to coach I don’t think I’d ever be coaching at the varsity level,” added Treivan.

“Jeffrey Berridge has been another mentor,” said Treivan. “He’s been a great help along the way.”

“I coached Treivan in high school and that’s first where we met,” said Jeffrey Berridge, successful head boy’s basketball coach at Winnebago HS. “From there I always was in his life through sports, from men’s basketball leagues, flag football leagues, and men’s slow pitch softball.”

“When it comes to high school girls coaching, the school had a tough time finding a coach for the program,” said Jeffrey. “AD James asked who I thought would be a good fit in the position and Coach Bear showed interest and seemed to me like he wanted the job.”

“To me coaching is a hard job and a lot of time away from family,” said Jeffrey. “He showed he was willing to dedicate his time to the team and that right there is the biggest part being there for your team. Putting that extra time and effort to make the opportunity for them to be better as individuals and a team.”

“Coach Bear is willing to learn,” said Jeffrey. “Dedication of time and effort to become the coach he is now, and he was always asking questions and watching how I did things with my program. I felt like a mentor to him and a big brother and growing a stronger bond over the years.”

“One person I looked up to growing up was my mother Robin,” said Treivan. “She’s taught me so much and she continues to. She’s honest and tells you what you need to hear not what you want to hear.”

“Treivan is number three of four brothers raised by a single mother,” said mom Robin.  “He has always excelled at whatever he set out to do. Treivan was involved in sports at a young age mainly softball, basketball and football. His hero was Kobe Bryant. As he got older and taller he began watching how Dennis Rodman played and tried to play like that. After high school he planned to go to college, but his beautiful baby girl Paige came along. He decided to go to work and that he did. Treivan took a job at the Boys & Girls Club in Winnebago. He started coaching basketball, football and softball. He had a way with kids and they loved him.”

“The Winnebago Public School Superintendent, Dan Fehringer, said to me, ‘I want that boy here coaching’ and so it began. He coached the junior high boys football then moved to head high school girls’ basketball coach. He told me ‘I know I can get them to State.’ The rest is history.”

“I always told my sons, ‘you can do anything you put your mind to.’ Always do your best, win or lose. And remember to thank God in all you do,” added Robin. 

“RJ Kuntz was an assistant coach my high school years,” said Treivan. “He really helped me figure out what I was doing on a basketball court. Before my junior year I just played because my friends did, but when he showed me who Dennis Rodman was, and how he impacted games, I knew that I could do that and I did.”

Dennis Rodman was a journeyman in the NBA and his most memorable years may have been with the Chicago Bulls. There was a psyche’ called the Dennis Rodman Mentality. Basically it was getting in position to get rebounds and even before that was the mentality that all missed shots were his and he went to secure it by all means. 

“When Treivan started his freshman year at Winnebago he became frustrated because he couldn’t score as much as the other guys,” said RJ. “I sat him down and talked to him about the importance of role players and not everyone is a scorer. I told him with his long arms and his defensive abilities he should look up to Dennis Rodman. From that point on he became our garbage guy diving for loose balls, going after every rebound and playing hard tough defense.”

“I talked with a lot of the players because I wasn’t from Winnebago, NE,” said RJ. “I’m from Fort Yates, ND. I told them I’ll never quit on you so don’t quit on me. My family is way up north so every basketball season I look forward to it because you guys are my family.”

“I didn’t get to coach Treivan his senior year but one of my proudest moments was when he sent me a press clipping of him grabbing 27 rebounds in a game,” said RJ. “My connection with Treivan goes beyond basketball because I would help his mother coach little league softball during the summers. One of my messages I always told him and his teammates before the start of games was they’re going to have a run and you guys are going to have a run but don’t get discouraged. What matters is the last five minutes of the basketball game and recently we talked and he told me he uses that speech to his girls.”

“One of my earliest coaches who made the game of basketball fun for me was Quince Bass,” said Treivan. “He was my youth basketball coach growing up. He just had a passion and love for the game that he shared with us.

“Coach Bear was brought in at a perfect time, when the girl’s team was coming off an average season and had very promising underclassmen,” said Quince Bass, Treivan’s coach from elementary to high school. “The line-up consists of daughter’s of some local legends: Keisha Snyder, the daughter of former Nebraska Cornhusker Darwin Snyder, Maddy Cleveland, daughter of three point sniper Haga Cleveland, and Natasha Deal, daughter of Sioux City West High All American Nate Deal.”

“One of the most important attributes of a great coach is to bring out the very best of each individual athlete in a ‘Team First’ game plan,” said Quince. “The coaching staff are gaining these great relationships with the young ladies here in Winnebago. Coach Bear tends to be very strict when it comes to conditioning and running defensive drills.  I heard from some of the other coaches that his practice is harder than the wrestling team’s. “

“The Runnin’ Lady Indians basketball program is on the rise.  Coach Bear and his staff brought back the same winning attitude the Lady Indians had back in the early 90’s.  The years of Dawn ‘Bink’ Snow and The ‘GOAT’ Darla LaPointe, mother of South Dakota State University star David Wingett.”

“Coach Bear has a chance to rewrite history,” said Quince. “I know with his hard work and dedication to winning, the Lady Indians will be in good shape.”

“Treivan Bear and assistant coach’s Sky Aldrich and Teisha Snyder, daughter of Darwin Snyder, punched their tickets to the girls Nebraska State Tourney for the first time since 1990,” said Quince.

“His first year of coaching high school basketball three years ago we went out to dinner,” recalled assistant coach Sky Aldrich. “We made a bet that if he made it to state in three years I would owe him wings for life or if he didn’t make it he’d buy me some new golf clubs. Not knowing I’d be a part of this amazing journey I agreed and here I am, coaching along side my best friend at the state tournament while footing the bill for wings for the rest of our lives.”

“Our year has been up down with wins and losses but this post season we have come together and are peaking at the right time. I’ve told this countless times that there’s three seasons in a year, before Xmas, after Xmas and the postseason and that we only need to win one of those and here we are, knocking on the door to the state finals,” added Sky.

“As coaches we are just trying to keep these girls motivated in any way that we can,” said Sky. “We’re playing for not only ourselves and each other but for our fans who made it or couldn’t make it, our families, our loved ones who’ve passed on. Nobody is going to give us this trophy and we have to go out there and take it.” 

Assistant coach Teisha Snyder shared: “Coach Bear is a passionate person. He deserves to be here, we all deserve to be here. We worked the girls so hard these past couple of weeks, and it’s ridiculous. We want them to be successful. We’re at the State Tournament and girls still brought their chrome books to do work, knowing we have a game tomorrow morning. We’re trying our best to prepare our girls but it comes naturally to them. They want to fight, they want to win, and they are determined to win! We teach the girls to not give up, to fight harder when they’re down. Our goal for our girls tomorrow is to go out there and have fun, but most of all win and do it with a passion! We have one mission and we have to finish it. No matter what the outcome is Coach Bear, Coach Sky and myself will always have these girls’ backs for a lifetime and until the clock hits zeros!”

“The team knows what basketball means to our community,” said Treivan. “They know the game of basketball can be a way to college. I have seniors who have potential to go on and play at the next level, and I feel like they want to take the game as far as they can.”

“This is the first time the girls program has been to state in 30 years, so I want my girls to enjoy the moment,” said Treivan. “Our early season goal was to make it to state. We completed that. Now our goal is to win it all. But no matter the outcome I want my girls to enjoy the journey, and know they’ve made history.”