PABLO — The SKC Lady Bison’s Carla McLean has touched American Indian and basketball communities from Browning, where she grew up, to Albuquerque, N.M. where she will soon run for the very distinguished position of Miss Indian World.

Somewhere in the middle, Carla has made her mark at SKC. She does a lot – from running her own business and working with a variety of youth programs to participation in tribal events on the national and local level – so basketball might not even be what Carla is known best for. But like her sister, Montina McLean, said of Carla, “basketball is her life.”

And Carla gives a lot of life to the SKC women’s basketball program. Playing her second season for the team, 24-year-old Carla averages around 20 points and 14 rebounds per game with the potential to put up numbers nearly twice as high – she scored 36 points and pulled down 23 rebounds against Andrews University this season.

That kind of production came from a lifetime of basketball, balanced with cultural responsibilities attached to being an active member of the Blackfeet Tribe. It was all meshed with a winners’ attitude and enough family support to make it work, Carla said. 

“I come from a strong family that has strong values and parents that have guided me very strong in a positive way,” McLean said. “I guess that’s why I’m so successful.”

Carla was chosen as Miss Blackfeet for the 2000-01 year, honored to serve as an ambassador for her people before she even began her college basketball career.

Now she is taking aim at an even greater honor - she hopes to be selected as this year’s Miss Indian World at the Gathering of Nations Powwow in Albuquerque, N.M.

Not seeking fame, Carla said instead, she’s doing it for her people.

“I wanted to run because I wanted to represent my tribe because last year, they didn’t say anything about the Blackfeet and I wanted to run just because I wanted them to know who my people are, show them culturally what we’re about and where we came from.”

Hailing from tribes across the country, the contestants are tested in a pageant, judged on their knowledge of tribal history and language, the ability to express oneself verbally, and for emotional maturity, stability, self reliance and independence. There is also a dance competition.

Carla said she’s in it to win it.

“I’ve grown up traditionally and am a culturally based person,” Carla said. “I practice my traditional ways and I know what my tribe is about and I know where I come from.”

Carla’s sister, Montina, who studies at SKC as well, said Carla has the right personality for the job.

“Carla’s more of a go with the flow person – if it happens it happens, if it doesn’t it doesn’t,” Montina said, noting that this makes Carla no less competitive or hard-working.

“It’s not an ‘I don’t care’ attitude, more like a ‘don’t let it bog you down,’ sort of attitude,” Montina explained.

In route to where she is today, Carla played ball at two other schools, beginning by following a family tradition of high-level ball by playing a semester at the University of Great Falls.

Carla’s grandfather played professional ball in his day, and her father had always encouraged her to reach for the stars in college ball, Carla said.

Great Falls wasn’t her place Carla said, however, choosing to transfer to Blackfeet Community College in Browning, making her home and heritage priority number one. She continued her involvement in powwows, a tradition instilled by her mother since birth, Carla said.

Carla first met SKC women’s coach Juan Perez at the AIHEC tournament on opposite ends of a semifinal battle. Carla recorded a double-double to give BBC a 1-point victory in the game, and spoke with Perez afterward.

“I was introduced to him and he came off as a really good guy,” Carla said. “And I sort of just made my decision.”

Carla came to SKC where her mother and sister were already studying.

She said Perez and the team didn’t hold a grudge for her performance in the opposition jersey the year before. 

Though she has switched majors to business, Carla still pursues an interest in social work, her original field of study, working with children in several programs to encourage a drug and alcohol free lifestyle. 

Her interest in business comes from a desire to be independent. Carla already operates her own contracting business, sewing and beading traditional outfits for use in powwows and other events. After school, she hopes to expand into the restaurant business.

Busy with all of that, one immediate event sits square in front of Carla. Today, the AIHEC tournament begins in Pablo, and she looks to earn the school she is so proud of the championship it deserves.

“It’s very, very awesome. It gives us a chance to show everyone  that we are serious here and we take our athletic department very seriously and we want to show others that we are capable of being educated and being athletic,” Carla said.

That opportunity starts with pool play tonight at the SKC gym in Pablo.