There’s still a long way to go in the junior basketball season, but the girls’ final at the North Battleford Comprehensive High School Invitational might go down as the best of the entire year.
In a game that saw a ton of momentum swings, the host Vikings came away with the win as they edged out the John Paul II Crusaders by a score of 29-27 in an all North Battleford battle on Dec. 16.
“That was one of those finals where everything was all over the place,” Vikings head coach Kara Wilkinson said. “The effort that both teams put forward was tremendous and you didn’t know who would come away with the win until the very end.”
The tournament triumph was the second of the season for the Vikings, as they had won an event a week earlier in Melfort.
“I thought we played well in our first two games, but we were a little bit nervous and got away from the team game during the final against John Paul II,” Wilkinson said.
“Our team this year has a lot of new players, and even though we have five players back from last year, only one of them has had significant court time and everyone is in new positions. As a coach, you have to be more patient and understanding when it comes to having a younger team and know that the when it comes to the end goal, those players will start to step up their game with more experience.”
The loss to the Vikings was the first of the season for the Crusaders, as they had won tournaments at Lloydminster Holy Rosary and in Osler earlier this month.
“I was really happy with how the girls played as they stepped up their game when they were asked to,” Crusaders head coach Kristina Binette said. “Our downfall ended up being a scoring slump that lasted for about nine minutes, but we got some baskets in the fourth quarter to get some momentum back.”
Meanwhile in the boys’ tournament, which was won by the Bishop Lloydminster Lancers, the host Vikings picked up third place honours and the Crusaders won the consolation tournament.
“We have a pretty veteran team this year and we’re able to run things more efficiently as a result of that,” Vikings head coach Jeff Gibson said. “We did really well in Melfort at our first tournament to get a win there and we played well at home, but turnovers against Bishop Lloyd did us in.”
“We got a lot of guys that have played basketball before, but it’s a younger group, so we’re mainly focusing on getting everything in place at the moment,” Crusaders head coach Nate Jurgens said. “We kind of approach this time of year as the pre-season with the tournament here and the silver medal that we won in Lloydminster.”
The next event for all four teams will be on Jan. 12 and 13 as the Crusaders will host a junior boys’ and girls’ tournament.
John Paul II will also host the boys’ district finals in February, with the girls’ tournament taking place in Macklin.
