PHOTO BY LUCIA EARL-MITCHELL

THE TRIBAL WARRIORS YOUTH BASKETBALL TEAM POSE WITH THEIR JERSEYS. The Warriors will play in one more tournament this year at Chief Leschi schools over Memorial weekend.

Tribal Warriors compete in Taholah

By Ben Miller

The Tribal Warriors youth basketball teams headed to Taholah over the weekend of March 15 and came out with mixed results. After placing fourth at a tournament in Shelton weeks earlier to start off their season, the Tribal Warriors had high expectations.

However, the 12-and-under team ended up failing to place at the event.

“We just didn’t play like we should have,” said coach Frank Earl. “It was the same teams we played last tournament, we just didn’t play to our expectations.”

The Tribal Warriors led off the tournament with a loss in the first round, a disappointing result in the opening game. They did, however, rebound to win the second game of the tournament to keep their hopes alive and push themselves further into the bracket.

“The team played like they should have, played their heart out,” Frank Earl said about the win in the second game.

In the third game, though, the Tribal Warriors suffered their second loss of the weekend and found themselves out of the tournament earlier than they expected. Frank Earl was unhappy with the way his team played in the two losses, but he said that there is always something to take away from every game.

“It’s always a learning experience whether you win and lose,” he said. “There’s always a lot you can work on and move forward. The players as a whole have to come together to be a team and put their feelings from outside the team aside and concentrate on just basketball.”

The Tribal Warriors  bounce back into action on Memorial Day weekend as the Puyallup Tribal Youth Center hosts a basketball tournament of its own. All games will take place at Chief Leschi.

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