The JPII Sr. Girls Basketball team got 2nd place in their home tournament this past weekend. (John Paul II Collegiate/Facebook)

By Austin Mattes

2nd Place Finish

Home tournament marks start off the season for JPII girls basketball

Dec 5, 2024 | 5:00 PM

It was a great weekend for the John Paul II Collegiate Crusaders senior girls basketball team as they hosted their home tournament, bringing in eight schools from across the region to compete and start off the season.

The tournament kicked off Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in front of a full crowd with the girls taking on Unity. The Crusaders came out strong, winning the first game of the season over Unity to advance to the next round.

“It’s the one time during the year that our kids get to play in front of their friends and family and it’s a big thing for them. We introduced the roster before the game, so it’s a nice thing for the kids to experience that support in front of a packed, rowdy gym and they really enjoyed it.” said JPII Sr. Girls basketball Coach, Bruce Yonkey.

For the second game, JPII took on Humboldt. This matchup was an exciting one that went on to the very end. Both teams had a similar fast play style, but in the end it was the Crusaders who took the win to then move on to the finals.

In the finals, the girls got matched up against a strong Meadow Lake team. This was the hardest game of the tournament, but the Crusaders started off strong. But as the game went on, Meadow Lake started to pull away and eventually was able to grab the win to get first place and give JPII second.

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“We came up against Meadow Lake in the final, we played well for the first half and then the third quarter, we let it get away from us. Overall, it was a good start for us for the first three games of the season, I thought we played good and I was happy with the effort and the things that went on. But we’ll have to come up a little better in the game plan next time we see them.” Yonkey said.

The JPII senior girls are now getting ready for their next tournament, which is this weekend in Swift Current.

Apart from the girls, the JPII senior boys basketball team was in Prince Albert this past weekend for their first tournament of the season.

The boys were in a draw of 16 teams at PA Carlton and opened with a loss to Moose Jaw Central. Following that, they played a tough game against Swift Current which they forced to overtime and won. After that, they took on Melfort and had their best game of the tournament, winning by 25 points. This put them in the consolation final, where they ended up losing to Martensville.

The JPII senior boys will be hosting their home tournament this weekend with their first game on Friday, Dec. 6th, 2:00 p.m. against Warman.

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austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes