By Martin Martinson

JPII Junior basketball teams sweep tournament for dual gold

Dec 3, 2018 | 4:00 PM

It was a weekend of school pride and community joy as the JPII Crusaders Junior Boys and Junior Girls teams picked up gold medals at their season-opening tournament in Lloydminster.

Taking place at Holy Rosary High School, the Crusaders were one of eight junior boys’ teams to take part in the weekend, winning their first game against St. Jarome’s School from Vermilion 82-28. The Crusaders then followed up their initial victory with a second win, this time against their neighbors from Meadow Lake in Jonas Samson, with 81-14 as the final score.

The Crusaders only continued to roll into their final matchup, a showdown for gold pitting the Battlefords’ representatives against the host team from Holy Rosery High School to determine who takes home gold.

As if feeding off the moment and the ultimate stakes at hand, JPII once again plowed over their opposition on their way to topping the podium, triumphing over Lloydminster’s host school by a 95-38 final.  

Nate Jurgens, head coach of the Crusaders Junior Boys, said the team’s early success has been, in large part, due to great depth with a number of players able to contribute at a high level.

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“This year I think we have a pretty deep team,” he said. “It didn’t matter who we put on the floor, we cycled guys in to keep everybody fresh and honestly one through 12, everybody did their part and it was fun to watch.”

Much of the team’s depth can be attributed to an excellent Grade 9 crop from last year that has seen a large majority of the players return even stronger after growing from their experience last season that saw the team win their district and gain confidence and cohesiveness through their success.

“We have eight returning players this year so that’s a good chunk of our roster that had the opportunity to play together last year,” Jurgens said. “We try to instil in them a love of the game and kind of a selfless approach to the game, it’s an even attack and in terms of the way they approach the game, they play as one.”

Although happy with the win, with still two more tournaments before Christmas, and another four again after, coach Jurgens was quick to add the journey is just getting started.

“There’s still lots of season left, still plenty of time to improve further,” he said.

The JPII Junior Girls also swept their competition on the weekend, going 3-0 in their own right to lay claim to gold.

The Crusaders’ girls began their quest against one of the two host teams in the girls’ bracket from Lloydminster’s Holy Rosery.

Upon securing a comfortable victory in their opening game, the girls then moved on to their second contest, against Jonas Samson.

With the team once again pulling away victorious, the yellow and blue punched their ticket to the showdown for gold against Holy Rosery’s other club in the finals, which almost poetically ended in favor of JPII, drawing the weekend’s tournament to a close the way it began, with a Crusaders’ victory by a fair margin to fulfill their quest and clinch gold at their first tournament of the season with a win over the home-side.

Kristina Binette, head coach of the Junior Girls team, said the younger players stepping up so early in the season really provided the squad with an ability get everyone engaged right from the get-go, something the coach believes will only continue to reap rewards as the season moves forward.

“I would say our Grade 9 players were able to step up and play really well off the hop,” she said. “We also have a good crop of Grade 8’s who were then able to filter in and learn from the Grade 9’s, and get some of those quality minutes right at the beginning of the season, which will be helpful as the season goes on.”

Binette continued to say the success early should only help boost the team’s moral as they hope to continue their momentum heading into next weekend.

“Getting off to a strong start is nice because it gives the girls some confidence right off the bat, they can then build on from there,” she said.  

The junior girls have six tournaments remaining this season.

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1