by By Dale Pine, Jr.
The Salish Kootenai College (SKC) Lady Bison showed tremendous balance and team play on their way to the 2017 AIHEC Division I Women’s Basketball Championship.
After losing a close game to Stone Child in pool play, the Lady Bison went on to knock off two time defending champion NHSC and Cankdeska Cikana in pool play. SKC knocked off Turtle Mountain, the only undefeated team in tournament play, 86-85 in the semifinals then won the rematch with Stone Child, 82-70, to secure its fifth championship in the past eleven years.
Four players won honors for SKC as Whitney Malatare, Braylee Stone, and Kaylea SkunkCap were named to the all-tournament team. Point guard Shanelle SkunkCap was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player after wowing the crowd with her no look passes and ability to run the balanced offense for SKC. The scoring was so balanced for the Lady Bison that the scoring totals in the tournament for the players were within just points of each other. Head Coach Juan Perez was named the Outstanding Coach of the tournament.
“Winning AIHEC is exactly what we as a team went to do. We worked hard for 6 months to get that AIHEC title with intensity and determination,” said SKC guard Shanelle SkunkCap. “Winning an MVP was great, but I believe we are all valuable and we wouldn’t have won the AIHEC championship with out everyones contribution.”
Yay! Lady Bison…Way to go! Congratulations!
– from the SkunkCap Momma