Champs again: Lummi Nation parade celebrates wildly successful basketball season
Friday was a day of celebration for Lummi Nation School, which held a parade to honor its basketball teams’ success at the class 1B state tournament in Spokane.
The top-seeded boys team returned home with a second-consecutive state championship after a 61-56 win over No. 3 seed Tulalip Heritage in the title game. Meanwhile, the Lady Blackhawks finished in fourth place, the team’s highest finish in its history.
Three Blackhawks players earned player of the year honors:
- Jerome Toby – Northwest 1B/State Player of the Year
- Jemma James – Northwest 1B Player of the Year
- Ailina Rabang – Northwest 1B Player of the Year
Boys head coach Jerome Toby Sr. also was named Northwest 1B League Coach of the Year and State Coach of the Year.
The league also recognized players Chayce Waiter-Kellar, Brianna Metteba, Celestine James and Dyson Edwards for outstanding seasonal performance, with honorable mentions to Deandra James, Landon LaFontaine and Jordan Reeder.
“These awards reflect the dedication, discipline and pride our student-athletes and coaches bring to representing Lummi Nation School,” school leadership stated in a news release. “We are incredibly proud of their accomplishments and the positive example they set for younger students and future Blackhawks.”
The parade began at 11:30 a.m., starting at the Northwest Indian College and heading west down Kwina Road, going around the roundabout at Haxton Way before heading back the way they came to the Lummi Indian Business Council (LIBC).
A celebration ceremony was held inside the LIBC building, where people spoke about the Blackhawks’ success, including Coach Toby and Lummi Indian Business Council Chairman Tony Hillaire.
“When you repeat a championship, it means something,” Hillaire said. “It means that you affirmed that you are champions, you have affirmed you have a place in the history of sports in Washington state.”
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