STATE CHAMPION BEARS WALK WITH A PURPOSE

At the start of the season, the Box Elder Lady Bears had a couple of goals. One was to win a Class C state championship; the other was to bring attention to some issues that affect their tribe, their reservation and themselves.

Those issues are murdered and missing Native American women, as well as other problems such as drug abuse and domestic violence. The cause became something that motivated the Bears and Tuesday, was another step in that effort, as the Box Elder girls and boys basketball teams participated in the Longest Walk 5.3, a nationwide effort which calls for an end to drug abuse and domestic violence.

"What we think is people don't know about this stuff," Lillian Gopher, a member of the Box Elder girls state championship team said. "But it's actually a big deal and a really big situation. It needs to be heard and it's something that everyone needs to be aware of. I have seen it across all reservations across the United States, and we felt it was important to make it known to everyone."

Gopher, the MVP of the Class C state tournament, and her teammates dedicated their season to making others aware of how these issues are impacting Native American families and not just locally with the Chippewa Cree Tribe on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation. And so during the state tournament, while the Bears were making history and winning their first state championship in 20 years, the players wore red ribbons on their shoes to bring awareness to the cause of missing, murdered and abused Native American women.

"It meant a lot more when we would win because we knew we were playing for something," Joelnell Momberg said. "When times would get tough, we would tell each other, look down at your shoes, look at who you are playing for, so you can't give up. That just really pushed us."

Momberg said part of the inspiration for her came from the case of Ashley Loring Heavyrunner, a Browning woman who went missing in June 2017. Momberg said that her mom taught Heavyrunner in Heart Butte and that made the issue of missing or murdered indigenous women, hit even closer to home. Earlier this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was asked to join in the search for her.

"When I was younger she was always around me, because she was in seventh grade when my sister and I were little. She was like an older sister," Momberg said. "After she went missing, it meant a lot more to me. I realized how big this issue is. It's not heard enough and there are a lot of people that are not educated about it. So I knew that we had to do it for everybody, for all the Native (American) women out there."

Before taking part in a more than 13-mile walk from Box Elder High School to Rocky Boy High School, the students in Box Elder had an assembly and welcomed members of the non-profit organization the Longest Walk 5.3. Box Elder superintendent Jeremy MacDonald also spoke to the students and talked about how important it is raise awareness of these issues. He also talked about the negative impact on the community in general and how it was up to the youth to break the cycle.

"The idea of ending domestic violence is huge," MacDonald said. "That and drug use, those are two challenges that we face on a daily basis. It's not because those things happen in our school, but we are getting kids from homes that have those challenges and those obstacles. Bringing awareness to those issues is important, but from awareness, I think there needs to be solutions. Drug use needs to decrease and domestic violence needs to stop. You shouldn't be putting hands on people that you love."

MacDonald, a former state champion coach for the Box Elder boys basketball team, also talked about how proud he was of his student-athletes for doing what they can to raise awareness.

"I think in our small corner of the world, our athletes have seen that they can have a platform and can be engaged. They don't have to shut up and dribble," MacDonald said. "I think our girls are starting to understand with athletic success, they get another platform where they can explore issues and discuss issues and more importantly, try to problem solve. They are embracing that and that's good. We want to continue to provide them with guidance, but ultimately, they will develop their own world views."

Following the morning assembly, both basketball teams, as well as many others, began the walk to Rocky Boy, straight into a cold wind. Yet, with the gravity of the moment and the weight of what it all meant, not a single person seemed reluctant. Just like they did in the state tournament, the Lady Bears remembered for who and what they were doing it, which gave them all the motivation they needed.

"I looked it up on Google Maps and it was four hours and three minutes," Box Elder guard Maddie Wolf Chief said. "That's a lot, but it will be worth it. We just want to set a path right now and we hope everyone will lead on from it."