The North Battleford Comprehensive High School Vikings junior basketball teams swept the district championships for the second year in a row. (Image Credit: Battle West Athletics/Facebook)

By Ryan Lambert

Junior Basketball Districts

North Battleford Vikings basketball finishes on top across the board

Feb 13, 2026 | 7:16 AM

This past weekend was the Battle West High School junior basketball district championships and the North Battleford Comprehensive Vikings boys’ and girls’ basketball teams repeated as district champions. 

The boys’ team won the gold medal game against John Paul II, 67-59. 

There was a lot of turnover on the team with a significant number of new players. “Basically the entire team with the exception of two players out of 13, were new to the program,” said Vikings head coach Jeff Gibson. “I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but we got to our first tournament in Lloydminster, and we had won a couple games, lost a couple games but it was pretty good.” 

Gibson said it’s a steep learning curve learning curve for a lot of the players learning a new system early on in the year, but he was pleased with how they played in the first tournament. “Trying to get them ready for that very first tournament, you know, takes a real doing, but It was, I was happy with the way they played in Lloyd. I was actually quite impressed that they did as well as they did.” 

A theme throughout the season for the boys team was the fact that they played in so many close games throughout the season. “Whether we won or lost. It seemed like almost all of the games were within, you know, 10 points. We, you know, when you’re in close games like that, it’s, you know, a lot of meaningful minutes. I think it’s really good for the kids. They learn to sort of battle through adversity,” said Gibson. 

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Playing in many close games through the year helped the squad mentally prepare for the pressure packed situation of a gold medal game. “we played our best game of the season against John Paul in the final, I thought. We had really done a pretty good job of preparing for them. We had three weeks between games,” Gibson said. 

 “I’m not sure that comfortable is the word, but they definitely understood what it was like to play through that type of pressure. And, you know, they did a really good job of persevering, even the game in Unity when we play JP, three weeks earlier. we, that’s one of the closest games I’ve ever been a part of.” 

When talking about the season as a whole, Gibson mentioned how tight knit the group was which led to the team’s success. “They really get along well, and I feel like that really had a lot to do with it. They just love coming to the gym every morning and practicing and every noon hour, they’re always in the gym.” 

The girls team also won the district gold medal, taking down Unity in the gold medal game. 

Head coach Jeremey Verity mentioned the strong group of grade nine’s which led the team throughout the season.  

“They provided just fantastic leadership, particularly just modeling in their play. They were really aggressive, gritty, determined, group who was also willing to learn too. And I think they modeled the way for our grade eights and our grade sevens,” he said. “I was grateful that they were able to learn from our grade nine players that we had this year.” 

Verity said that out of anything, the team’s ability to adjust and improvise on short notice was where he noticed the most improvement throughout the season. “That was where I maybe really noticed looking at the season as a whole. That just really helped maybe develop a level of trust that we could rise to challenges that we faced,” said Gibson.  

“Knowing that we could make those adjustments, even if it was short term, was awesome. And I think that’s something that we really developed and were able to buy into and wrap our heads around more as the season moved on.” 

It was Verity’s first year back coaching in a few years, and he said the girls team made it easy to jump back in. “They were a really special group. Like they were very talented. They had a great mindset. They were an absolute pleasure to be around. It was the kind of group you’d like to come back out of retirement to have the chance to coach.” 

This season was the second straight year that both the boys and girls Vikings junior basketball teams won the Battle West District Championships. 

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Ryan.Lambert@pattisonmedia.com