While most of Whatcom County’s prep basketball attention will be focused on Yakima this week, let’s not forget the little peninsula jutting out into Bellingham Bay where something special is happening.
For the third straight year, Lummi Nation will be sending both its boys and girls basketball teams to Spokane for the Class 1B state tournaments.
And even though the tribal high school is the county’s smallest, when it comes to hoops, Lummi Nation is big time.
“Our community is there for us more than at other schools,” said senior Jerome Toby Jr. “They back us. They travel with us wherever we go. We have a lot of community members talk to us about basketball. The youth look up to us. They want to be Blackhawks.”
Sports have always been important to the Lummi community. Even before the high school opened in 2004, tribal youth were a big part of Ferndale High School athletics. But once they got their own teams, success was quick to follow, especially on the basketball court.
Under young coach Jerome Toby, who would become Jerome Toby Sr. with the birth of his youngest child, the Lummi Nation boys have become a regular at state, first in Class 2B in 2006 and since then in the 1B tournament.
The Blackhawks will be making their 14th state appearance on Thursday when they play in the quarterfinals in the Spokane Arena. During the past two decades, they’ve earned top-eight trophies seven times and won state championships in 2015 and last March.
“We will have the target on our back, but we know what our end goal is,” said coach Toby, whose defending champions are 23-1-1 and top-ranked again. “We need to be game ready … every team deserves to be there (Spokane). But our group is unselfish and focused and driven with the goal of leaving a legacy.”
The basketball legacy has spread to the girls program, which will make its ninth state appearance when it takes on Almira-Coulee-Hartline in a loser-out game Wednesday night in Spokane. The Lady Blackhawks have placed twice and with a 21-4 record are looking to earn their first trophy since 2009.
“We’ve always been a basketball community,” said girls coach David James, who played for Lummi Nation when the school first opened. “The boys have been successful for years. The girls program is finally getting to that point.”
After winning the Northwest 1B League and District 1 championships, the Lady Blackhawks are seeded eighth out of the 16 teams in the state tourney. But even more impressive than their many wins were two of their losses — to three-time defending state champion Neah Bay by four points in the regular season and by two points last Friday in the state regionals.
“The bond these girls have had the past couple of years… how much they want to win, I’m not surprised at their success,” said James. “I’ve seen how much they’ve improved. No team is more deserving than these kids.”
In addition to their recent success, there’s something else that makes this year’s Lummi Nation teams unique — both are led by the head coach’s child.
And we’re not talking players who made the team because their daddy is in charge and who sit on the bench until the game is a blowout. We’re talking two of the best players in Whatcom County and two of the best in Lummi Nation history.
Jerome Toby Jr. has been the starting point guard since he was an eighth-grader — yes, eighth-graders can play for the smaller high schools — and just last month became Lummi Nation’s all-time leading scorer.
He has guided the Blackhawks to state each year and was named the Class 1B player of the year after last year’s championship season.
“He’s really a cliche — the coach’s son,” the coach said of his third child, who grew up watching older brother Duncan play guard for the Blackhawks. “He loves to play basketball, and is a great student and athlete. I tell everyone he gets it from his mother. But he does a great job representing Lummi Nation.”
Despite being only 5-foot-8, Jerome Jr. showed he can dominate a game with his scoring, passing, or defense. He leads all Whatcom County players in assists (156) and steals (92) and is sixth in scoring (17.5 points per game) all while orchestrating a veteran team that won its games by an average score of 82-48 against perhaps the most difficult schedule in the school’s history.
And the young Toby said he has enjoyed all five years with his father, who also happened to be an all-star guard for Ferndale in the mid-1990s.
“I feel my Dad’s done a good job (coaching his sons),” he said. “At home he’s a dad. He’s hard on me (in the gym), obviously, to be a leader. He was a small guard, so he knows you can’t take off any plays. I learned from Duncan. When my dad was telling him, I’d listen.”
On the girls side, James’s daughter didn’t have that luxury. Jemma James, the team’s junior point guard, is the oldest of six children and the only girl. But that didn’t stop her from excelling in sports.
With a father who is still playing competitive basketball and a mother who played AAU basketball when she was younger but who starred in soccer, Jemma was born into a sports family. She started playing basketball in kindergarten for her dad and up to sixth grade, she played on boys teams.
“She held her own,” said her proud father.
And if there was any doubt to her toughness, little Jemma also played football. Not flag football. Tackle football.
“My parents put me into basketball, and I found out I was good at it,” said Jemma, who at 5-foot-5 is still battling bigger opponents. “But you have to put in the work to stay good.”
She has certainly done that. She is second in the county in scoring (18.9 points a game), first in steals (142), and second to teammate Ailina Rabang in assists (114). And with another season to go, she already has more than 1,500 points in her Lummi career.
With her ability to dribble through any press, find open teammates, and fire up 3-pointers, she is the dynamic engine that helped the Lady Blackhawks average almost 70 points a game. And there’s no one more animated after she and her teammates make a big play.
“We definitely play the best when we are having fun,” said Jemma, who helps the Blackhawks lead the state in smiles (if there was such a stat).
Although they definitely are a run-and-fun team, they also are serious when it comes to their final goal.
“We know this is our year,” she said of earning the school’s first trophy since the year she was born. “We want it this year. We want to make history.”
The point guard and her teammates aren’t the only ones having fun.
“It’s been really fun coaching her,” said David. “I always wanted the chance to coach her in high school. She has a real passion for the game and is always looking to get better.”
And the coach is hoping this year’s Lady Blackhawks add to Lummi Nation’s long legacy of success.
“We hope to bring back the big trophy, but I’d be happy with any trophy,” David said. “This group, they know what they want. They’re not satisfied with just making it to state.”
Jerome Sr., who also happens to be the school’s athletic director, has enjoyed watching Jemma and Jerome and the impact they’ve had on Lummi Nation.
“We have two children who love to play basketball, who really work hard to accomplish what they have,” he said of Jemma and Jerome Jr. “They’re leaders in the basketball program and in the school. If any two deserve to be cocky, it’s them. But you don’t get that vibe from anything they do.”
And this week, the two fathers and the two coaches’ kids will get a chance to add to their accomplishments. Best of all, they’ll be doing it with each other — and having fun.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A big thank you to Tyler Anderson of Whatcom Preps for providing stats.
