It might not have been the colour members of the North Battleford Comprehensive High School senior girls' basketball team were hoping for heading into the provincial tournament on the weekend, but it was a medal and a better finish than last year, and something to be proud of.
"Bronze will look good in time, once the wounds heal," said NBCHS girls' coach Bryan Cottini days after his team returned from Moose Jaw and the HOOPLA tournament.
Entering the weekend, the Vikings knew they had the team to win it all since they beat all three other teams at HOOPLA throughout the season. Also the Vikings never lost any starters from last season's experience.
In their first game, the Vikings found themselves in a deep hole early in the first quarter, as they trailed Humboldt 23-9. At the end of the first quarter the Vikings battled to stay close and trailed 31-24.
In the second quarter the Vikings scrapped back to get within two points, but that was as close as they would get. A great second and third quarter by the Vikings was overshadowed by the less than impressive first and fourth quarters.
"We just couldn't maintain our level of play and spent too much on the comeback in the second and third quarters," said Cottini.
Cottini said that when the two teams met during the regular season, Humboldt was a skilled team, but improved their team defence, overall grit and a full court press to surprise the Vikings.
Humboldt went on to win 64-49, led by Lindsey Larson. Kendra Humenny had a game-high 28 points to lead the Vikings' offence.
Humboldt went on to beat Moose Jaw Peacock 76-54 in the gold medal game winning their second gold medal in two years.
The Vikings had a chance to salvage their season as they played Prince Albert Carlton for bronze.
The Vikings had a better start in their second game and grabbed the lead early. After the first quarter, NBCHS led 19-13. Prince Albert closed the gap in the second quarter but still trailed 30-27 at half time.
"They hung around all game and rebounded really well," said Cottini of his bronze medal opponents.
The Vikings reclaimed control of the game in the third quarter, taking a 55-45 lead into the fourth, but Carlton refused to roll over. With 1:20 left in the game, the Vikings led by just two points. NBCHS were able to hold off Prince Albert and went on to win 71-65 and capture the bronze medal.
Again Humenny led the offence, as she had 24 points, senior Tianna Balfour had 16 and Halley Zehner had 13.
Last season, Cottini's first as the girls' head coach, ended with an offensive struggle at provincials, but this season the Vikings were able to score and have nothing but a bright future ahead.
"Our expectations would be to make it back to HOOPLA next year," said Cottini, who graduates two players from the 2010-11 senior girls Vikings. Cottini noted many of the other strong teams are young as well, so next year will produce a clean slate and another opportunity to improve the NBCHS senior girls' basketball program.
