SKC basketball preview

BISON

The SKC Bison basketball team will be looking for their third 3-peat this season after winning the last two American Indian Higher Education Consortium championships. 

Coach Zachary Camel-Conko said the team has four returners from their championship team this past spring. One of those returners is AIHEC reigning MVP Zack Mills, who had 45 points and 21 rebounds in the title game this past spring. Also returning are Issac Camel, Tisen Fryberg, and Jalen Croff. 

Camel-Conko, who is in his fifteenth year as head coach, said because the players don’t get scholarships, he relies on word of mouth to pick up players. With the success the team has been having, word has gotten out. He said they’ve had a few players from as far away as Alaska. “They want to be part of a winning team,” he said.

One such Alaskan is newcomer Aquino Winson, a guard that Coach Camel-Conko said ‘is the real deal’.

The Bison are known for their quick style of play that includes pressure and shooting the outside shot. However, Camel-Conko said they do get the ball inside, and this year, they’ll have a familiar face down low. Sherman Redtomahawk is new to the Bison team, but he’s not a stranger. The Browning graduate has been playing against the Bison at Blackfeet Community College.

On player they will miss is Zachary Camel, who had been the starting point guard the last who years. He moved up to play for the University of Montana.

As far as winning another championship, the coach said he thinks they have the guys to do it. 

The Bison have their first game on Halloween weekend.

LADY BISON

The SKC Lady Bison are coming off a second place finish in the national title game earlier this spring. Juan Perez, who is in his thirteenth year as head coach of the team, has won five national championships in that time and placed runner up in four more. The team is returning six players from their squad last year, including post player Latydia Holiday, who had 26 points in the semifinal game and 24 in the national championship. Coach Perez said Holiday can play down low, and also transition to hit the outside shot. He also expects Cecelia Koskela to make big contributions to the team this year. This year, the team will have something they don’t usually have. “We have a lot more height than usual. There are five girls who are 5’10” or above,” Perez said.

The Bison have 11 girls on the team who are from Montana and three who are not. Among those Montanans are Shanelle Skunkcamp, a second year player out of Browning, and Arlee’s Violet Pablo, who helped her high school team win a district championship last year.

The team has their first games on Halloween weekend and their first home game on November 18.