By Matt Gade

605 Sports

RAPID CITY — Heading into Saturday night’s championship game, Mahpiya Luta is seeking a Lakota Nation Invitational tournament record fifth-straight championship and will meet Lakota Tech at 6:30 p.m. at Summit Arena at The Monument.

But for Mahpiya Luta senior Ashlan Carlow-Blount, Saturday’s game is a little extra special as it will not only mark the standout’s goal of winning the LNI championship but it’s also one of the last journeys she will share with her mom and Mahpiya Luta assistant coach Amanda Carlow.

“Other senior parents are like, ‘Oh my God, you know, it's their last LNI and it's their last first game. It's their last of all these different things. And I'm like, I try not to look at it as like the last,” Amanda said. “Because, I mean, I know this whole senior year is a lot of lasts, but I just want to enjoy those moments with her and not take the focus off of what that moment is.”

For Ashlan, she was never afraid to try something new. Early on, she did ballet, gymnastics, volleyball, track and field but the constant was basketball. 

“All my family's done basketball, so I feel like it wasn't forced on me, but it was definitely around me,” Ashlan said. “I just grew up with it, and I just knew it's something that I always wanted to do. Just being around the basketball culture all my life has just really made me fall in love with the sport. And then having the coaches I've had — who've just made me a better player, along with a better person, I've just fallen more in love with it every time.

“When I was younger, I said I wanted to do gymnastics as my main (sport), and then I wanted to do track and cross country as my main (sport). But like I said, I've had some amazing coaches who have just made me fall in love with the sport more than I already have.”

Amanda, who played basketball at the Northeast Community College (Norfolk, Neb.) and then the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, said Ashlan’s work ethic is what has driven her to succeed. 

“She's pretty much there when I get there, and then when I leave, she's still there,” Mahpiya Luta head coach Matt Rama said of Ashlan’s time in the gym. “She starts her day there and finishes her day there, and that work ethic is what you become. You become a really good player.”

Mahpiya Luta head coach Matt Rama talks to Ashlan Carlow-Blount during a timeout during their game against Wall in the LNI semifinal game on Friday at The Monument. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

By the end of her junior campaign, Ashlan had recorded 1,364 points, 512 rebounds, 462 assists, 362 steals and 47 blocks and her third-straight all-state selection. As a team, the Mahpiya Luta girls have won four straight LNI tournament championships and a state runner-up finish in 2025 and the team’s fourth straight state tournament appearance.

As a junior, the 6-foot guard averaged 19.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 5.5 steals per game this season. 

In November, Ashlan signed to continue her basketball career at the Division I level to play for the University of South Dakota Coyotes.

Having coached Ashlan since she was just starting elementary school, Rama has seen her grow up not just on the court, but also as a person.

“I’ll tell you, she don't talk as much,” Rama said of Ashlan from her time as a kid to now. “She was a talking machine when she was little. She's become a really good leader. I think she always had that strength inside of her. I've taught elementary (school) for a long time, so you see things inside the kids, and it's like, it's fun to watch them, like, manifest, like, Oh, she's already a good leader, or she's already really driven. She was driven when she was young. She wanted knowledge, she wanted to do these things, and like, right now, she's sitting number one in her class, she got to sign to USD. 

“So it's not a surprise when she's 4 years old, and she just wants to be the best at these things and do the best that she can.”

Ashlan said Rama is just a part of her family having grown up in the Mahpiya Luta program. 

“Matt is just like another family member as a coach, and mom is my mom, so like they're not taking it easy. I'm not getting any baby treatments,” Ashlan said. “You know, they will yell at me. They will tell me what I'm doing wrong when I'm doing it wrong.”

Ashlan said she’s learned when Rama and Amanda are in coach mode versus when she can joke around with them. 

Outside of basketball, Ashlan has never slowed down. 

Mahpiya Luta's Ashlan Carlow-Blount sits next to assistant coach and her mom Amanda Carlow during their game against Wall in the LNI semifinal game on Friday at The Monument. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

“All of her life, pretty much, we've balanced schedules, and we've done a lot of time management, because she's so interested in (everything). ‘Oh, I want to try this. I want to try that.’ She was always open to trying new things,” Amanda said. “So I always was like, ‘let's do it. Let's try it.’ And so I've just been along for her journey. 

“I'm a passenger in her journey. So when she wanted to try something, we always tried to make it work. I mean, she likes to read. We'd go to Barnes and Noble to go to bookstores a lot so she could read. She knows how to knit. She has, like, a variety of things that she just does to decompress at home and spending time with family, especially, I think, is one of the things that helps her stay grounded.”

While Ashlan is able to focus on a lot of different things, for her final season, the future Coyote has two big goals she wants to achieve before capping off her high school career. A fifth-straight LNI championship, a feat no other school has done in the history of the LNI, and a Class A state championship. 

“I hope so, we’ll find out,” Rama said of Ashlan’s goals with a smile on his face.

Mahpiya Luta senior Ashlan Carlow-Blount runs onto the court during player introductions before their game against Wall in the LNI semifinal game on Friday at The Monument. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

For now, Amanda and Ashlan have both said it hasn’t settled in that this season will be the last time the pair will sit beside each other on the bench. 

“Being able to share a passion, you know, watching her develop that passion for it, I was never gonna say that ‘Oh, my kid is gonna play basketball.’ Mind you, I would want them to play, and all of my kids do,” Amanda said. “Watching her passion grow and just being able to really help her blossom in it, sharing things I've learned as a player, things I've learned as a coach with her, I think is a really big, big piece of our experience, our journey together.”

“It still hasn't hit me that this is my last LNI either,” Ashlan said. “I'm just here to play and to do the best I can for my team. 

“I was thinking about it earlier, that after this year, my mom will still be there supporting me and watching me, but she won't be participating in the events with me. I won't come to the bench and give her a high five, and I feel like I'm really gonna miss that.”