Teams Come from Across the Country for Red Lake Warrior Challenge B-Ball Tournament

Basketball is woven into the fabric of Red Lake and is a big part of the community, so it’s not surprising that the basketball-filled month of March is closing out with the Red Lake Nation Warrior Challenge Basketball Tournament.

21 men’s teams and six women’s teams have registered for the all-Indigenous basketball tournament. A handful of teams are from the area, but there’s also some from across the country, including places like Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, and Washington. Teams will be in action at the Red Lake Humanities Center and the Red Lake middle school and high school.

“It brings the community out, we don’t charge [an] admission fee or anything like that, a lot of our kids are excited, they’re coming over to watch it,” said tournament coordinator Chris Jourdain. “Some of the comments I got last year were like, ‘Oh man, we’ve been wanting to play in Red Lake for a long time,’ you know? … My phone, you know, has all these different numbers in different states, and it was really cool to know how many wanted to come up and participate.”

On Saturday, there will be a dunk contest and a three-point shootout. The tournament wraps up on Sunday afternoon, with the first-place team walking away with $4,000.