PIERRE — With each bucket, rebound, steal and assist, Lennix DuPris is carrying on the basketball family tradition. 

The Pierre High School senior girls basketball player pilots the Governors on the court, while she also adds to the DuPris hoops legacy. Her great uncle, Terry DuPris, was an outstanding basketball player at Cheyenne-Eagle Butte High School and Huron College. 

Terry DuPris is a member of the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame, Huron College Hall of Fame, the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference Hall of Fame, the Lakota Nation Basketball Hall of Fame and the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame.

Lennix doesn’t dwell on the fact she comes from a famous basketball lineage, but also takes pride in it.  

“Honestly, I don’t really think about it that much,” Lennix said. “But I kind of like having the family legacy.” 

Lennix has heard all the stories about her legendary uncle, who was an NAIA All-American and was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in 1980. He was the first South Dakota player to score more than 2,000 career points in both high school and college.

“He does tell me stories about his past, too,” Lennix said. “He’s really supportive in everything I do as well.”  

Terry is also well known for giving back to the game. He’s worked with many hoopers through the years, assisting with their development and helping them reach the college level. 

Lennix is no exception. The uncle and niece spent countless hours in the gym, with Terry passing down his skillwork drills to Lennix. 

“He’s always giving me little tips and telling me stuff I can work on,” Lennix said. “He’s a good mentor.” 

Lennix hones her basketball skills by working on the finer details of the game, including form shooting, free throws, ball handling and fundamental footwork. 

Pierre girls basketball coach Kirk Beebout has taken notice, saying the extra work is what sets Lennix apart from other players. 

“She’s done the fundamental footwork and the form shooting and all the little stuff over and over again,” Beebout said. “She really focuses on doing those fundamental aspects of the game every time she’s in the gym. That’s what she starts and ends with. A lot of kids don’t have that focus to do that.” 

With her uncle’s guidance and own drive, Lennix has carved out a name for herself in the South Dakota girls basketball scene. She’s played both point guard and shooting guard for the Governors, but as a senior she’s been doing a little bit of everything. 

This season, the 5-foot-6 lefty guard is averaging 15.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 4.6 steals per game. She nearly recorded a pair of quadruple doubles for Pierre (3-2) this season. 

Against Bismarck High School (North Dakota), she logged 21 points, seven assists, seven steals and six rebounds. Against Rapid City Central, she tallied 13 points, 10 assists, eight steals and six rebounds. 

“She can really do a little bit of everything,” Beebout said. “But she has incredible vision where she sees things before they happen and she’s able to make her teammates better.”

Last season, she averaged 14.7 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists during a second-team all-state campaign. She’s also already got her name etched in the Governor record books.

In the 2023-24 season, DuPris set the Pierre girls single-season steals record (96) and dished out 93 assists (second in school history). She’s currently No. 5 in program history in career 3-pointers (100). She scored 354 points last season, sixth most in a Pierre girls single season. 

But Beebout said her impact goes beyond statistics. 

“She just sets the example for what it takes to be at that level,” Beebout said. “She’s constantly in the gym. She stays after. She comes early. She demonstrates through her work ethic what it takes to play at that level and everyone sees and respects that from her.”

The Governors have produced a number of quality girls basketball players, and DuPris is the next in line. But her basketball journey didn’t start in Pierre. 

Lennix grew up on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, and attended Cheyenne-Eagle Butte until her sixth-grade year. But just before her seventh-grade year, Terry recommended moving to Pierre to play for the Governors. 

She was down for the move, with an eye toward enhancing her basketball and academic futures. But it came with some major adjustments. 

“It was pretty tough trying to make friends,” DuPris said. “I am really shy. So it was tough trying to make friends. But basketball helped me out with that, too.”

The Pierre coaches took notice of the budding star. As an eighth grader, DuPris was moved up to the junior varsity and was inserted into the starting lineup as a freshman. 

DuPris admits now she was timid at times, however, playing up was nothing new. Her grandfather, Vince DuPris, organized a traveling team when she was a first grader and she played up with the third graders. 

It only prepared her for the future for Class AA basketball. 

“I used to play up a lot,” DuPris said. “So I have played against good teams. I didn’t really notice it as much, but for sure the speed of the game and athleticism is definitely a jump I noticed.”

She continued to challenge herself during the summer, and played for the Sanford Sports Academy 17U Black. 

“Traveling everywhere definitely opened up a lot of opportunities and seeing the competition out of South Dakota was crazy,” DuPris said. “So playing this summer for Sanford was a good eye opener for me.”

Despite her last AAU season being derailed by an ankle injury, she still landed scholarship offers from Mount Marty University, South Dakota School of Mines and Wayne State College. 

She plans to make her college decision after the season.

But first she hopes to lead Pierre to its third consecutive state tournament, while continuing to add onto the DuPris family hoops tradition. 

“Being a senior for Pierre has been pretty fun getting to know the underclassmen and teaching them what to do has been a different experience for me,” she said. “But I enjoy pushing the girls every day.”