More than a game: Why basketball runs deep in South Dakota Native communities
Kate Biegler prepares to put up a shot during a Timber Lake girls basketball game from Newell during the 2025-26 season. Photo by Marie DuPreez
The “ball is life.”
For many Native people across South Dakota, that saying rings true now more than ever.
Basketball has been the only thing on many students’ minds for the past few months – as the season concluded, the Summit League tournament came to Sioux Falls at the beginning of the month and high school state tournaments were spread out across the state.
