Full-Court Quest (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780806139739)

Most fans of women's basketball would be startled to learn that girls' teams were making their mark more than a century ago-and that none was more prominent than a team from an isolated Indian boarding school in Montana. Playing like "lambent flames" across the polished floors of dance halls, armories, and gymnasiums, the girls from Fort Shaw stormed the state to emerge as Montana's first basketball champions. Taking their game to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, these young women introduced an international audience to the fledgling game and returned home with a trophy declaring them champions.

World champions. And yet their triumphs were forgotten-until Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith chanced upon a team photo and embarked on a ten-year journey of discovery. Their in-depth research and extensive collaboration with the teammates' descendents and tribal kin have resulted in a narrative as entertaining as it is authentic.

Full-Court Quest offers a rare glimpse into American Indian life and into the world of women's basketball before "girls' rules" temporarily shackled the sport. For anyone captivated by Sea Biscuit, A League of Their Own, and other accounts of unlikely champions, this book rates as nothing but net.

Author: Linda Peavy, Ursula Smith
ISBN-10: 0806139730
ISBN-13: 9780806139739
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Language: English
Published: 11/10/2008
Pages: 498
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 2.10lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.50w x 1.50d
Award: Montana Book Award - Winner
Award: WILLA Literary Award - Winner
Award: Spur Awards - Winner
Award: Oklahoma Book Award - Winner

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 09/01/2008 pg. 31
Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2008 pg. 932
Chronicle of Higher Education 12/05/2008 pg. 17
School Library Journal 01/01/2009 pg. 138
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2009 pg. 96
Multicultural Review 03/01/2009 pg. 61