Little Wound’s Janay Jumping Eagle was named Most Valuable Player at the 2016 Lakota Nation Invitational. Photo by James Giago Davies
Lady Mustangs top Pine Ridge for title
Dominant second half performances lock down championship
By James Giago Davies
Native Sun News Today correspondent
nativesunnews.today RAPID CITY –– “This year our defense is awesome,” Head Coach Lyle LeBeau said about his 2016 Lakota Nation Invitational Champions. “We’re a grind it out team. but we get off to a slow start.” Every game this year that has been the case, until the championship game against Pine Ridge. Little Wound jumped out to a 6-1 lead, and never looked back, taking home championship jackets for the second straight year, 65-31. The heart and soul of Little Wound is a 5-4 senior guard, Janay Jumping Eagle, dependable in the clutch, on either end of the court, and after the game, named LNI tournament MVP. She doesn’t look like an athlete, she doesn’t really move like one, but she gets assists, snatches rebounds, steals the ball, and seldom turns it over. She also doesn’t get rattled, and when she gets focused, she has a hard, competitive edge that produces consistent results. Jumping Eagle opened the scoring with an emphatic three, and then Miracle Spotted Bear, a willowy, 5-7 transfer from Pine Ridge, who played standout grudge ball against her former Lady Thorpe teammates all night long, hit her own three, 6-0, Little Wound.
Read the rest of the story on the Native Sun News Today website: Lady Mustangs top Pine Ridge for title (Contact James Giago Davies at skindiesel@msn.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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