The Junior Girls were in Prince George over the weekend at the Prince George Secondary Jr A Invitational. Their first game on Friday night was a match up against Westside. After a long day of travel, the girls came out strong with a focus and intensity that couldn’t be matched and took the game 55-16. They took on Kelly Road Secondary on Saturday morning. The girls were excited to play a team that they hadn’t seen yet this season. Kelly Road came out fighting, and the Grizzlies finished the first quarter only up by two. Elanor Copes opened the scoring with the first 6 points for the Grizzlies, all off of steals. The girls have been able to dig in and play patient, disciplined team defense all season, and this game was no exception. Kelly Road began to tire out in the second quarter, only scoring 2 points to the Grizzlies 10. The Grizzlies took off in the second half, finishing the game out with a score of 50-15. The gold medal game was another match up against PGSS, the 4th time this season that the Grizzlies have taken on the Polars. Building on their earlier win, the Grizzlies came out firing and won with a score of 60-19, their biggest point spread against the Polars all season. Sophia De Torres lead the scoring with 29 points, followed by Alyssa Gallant with 20.
The Junior Boys were in Dawson Creek for the 2020 DCSS/MCS Basketball Showcase. The boys went up against a much younger team from Dr Kearney in their first game-winning, with a score of 66-30. The win placed the team in the semifinals against a much improved GP Comp JV team. A 66-46 win put the Grizzlies in the finals for another showdown with perennial rivals Dawson Creek, who have won two championship games against the Grizzlies. The boys again started slow, down 8-0 in the first 5 minutes of the game. A timeout was called which inspired the boys to work harder in defense and move the ball for open shots. The Grizzlies were only ahead by a point at the end of the first quarter after wrestling the lead from Dawson Creek. The beginning of the second was a see-saw battle with the teams contesting for every possession and the Grizzlies were able to maintain the lead to 3 points at the end of the half. The third and fourth quarter was the same with Dawson mounting several comebacks but the Grizzlies maintained their poise and stuck with the game plan, leading to the teams first 1st place finish!
The Senior girls started the weekend off Friday night with a battle against Kelly Road Secondary School. The girls were down 20 points at the half and fought back to tie the game by the end of the 3rd quarter. The final score was 62-58. Saturday morning the girls stepped up to play Caledonia winning 58-52. The final game of the weekend was against PGSS, with a final score of 71-61.
This weekend the Senior Boys were in Prince George playing in the DP Todd tournament. Despite their third-place finish, this was their best tournament yet: they went into their first game confident expecting a win, however, that confidence led to a fast-paced game with minimal defense, in which they gave up 97 points to Kelly Road. Regardless, the boys’ offense was clicking and the final score was 106-97. Up next was their biggest challenge yet, against #1 AAA and #4 in the entire province, Duchess Park. This was the moment in which the Grizzlies would know whether or not they could compete at the highest level…and they rose to the occasion. The initial pace and efficient offense of the Condors led them to a 20 point lead going into the 2nd quarter. However, after a change in defense and with the boys finally hitting shots, the Grizzlies fought back to a 2 point game with 3 minutes left in the 4th. The battle continued, but with some costly turnovers and missed layups down the stretch, the boys couldn’t finish the job and lost with grace. The final score was 90-83. This game alone put the boys on the map, as they are now hoping to fight for a higher rank going into provincials. Lastly, the 3rd/4th place game was against their rivals Dawson Creek. The game started off even, but Dawson Creek was eventually no match, as the Grizzlies ended up with a 25 point victory. It was a great team weekend for the boys, and they proved that they could compete with the best of them. After this tournament, their record sits at 9-3 as they look forward to heading back down to Prince George in two weeks.
Up Next: The Senior Girls are back to Prince George this weekend, while the rest of the teams have the weekend off. Both Junior teams will be at Regionals (hosted by Bert Bowes and North Peace) Feb 7/8 and the Senior Boys will be at College Heights.
Athlete of the week: Komal Kaur (Gr. 12, Senior Girls Basketball) Komal played an integral role in the team’s success this weekend, demonstrating continuous defensive strategy, and mental toughness. Congrats Komal!
Posted inGeneral|Comments Off on Jan 28, 2020: IT’S GRIZZLY SEASON
Both Junior teams were at home over the weekend competing in the New Years Classic, co-hosted by North Peace and Bert Bowes. The girls started strong on Friday afternoon with a match up against the Dawson Creek Senior B team. With a final score of 98-10, the Grizzlies were ready to take on PGSS on Saturday morning. Having played the Polars in their first game of the season back in December, the girls were ready for a tough game and came out with a focus and intensity that PGSS couldn’t match. The final score was 63-32 North Peace, which set the teams up for a rematch in the gold medal game. PGSS came out strong in the final, but the Grizzlies played disciplined defense and slowly chipped away at the Polars. Sophia De Torres and Alyssa Gallant lead the offense, while Elanor Copes anchored the defense. The final score was 55-30 Grizzlies. Sophia, Alyssa and Karis were named tournament all-stars, while Elanor took home the “Hustle & Heart” award. Congrats girls!
With four teams entered in the round robin competition, the Junior Boys team went up against GP Comp in their first game on Friday and won handily. The next game was against a Dawson team which, again, the Grizzlies won with a score of 60-52. The team went up against a resilient GP Comp JV team on Saturday morning and again emerged victorious with a score of 52-45. After going undefeated in the round robin, the Grizzlies beat GP Comp in the semi final to set up a gold medal game against Dawson Creek. The championship game was tightly played with neither team up by more than 7 points at any given quarter. The Grizzlies were up by 1 point with 3 minutes to go but committed costly turnovers, defensive lapses and missed shots that the DCSS 10 capitalized on to win the tournament with a final score of 58-63. This is the second time the NPSS Grizzlies Junior Basketball team lost a championship game against DCSS 10, and with the same margin of 5 points. Cy and Temmy were named tournament all-stars, while Devon took home the “Hustle & Heart” award. The boys are excited for a rematch and redemption at the Dawson Creek tournament this weekend.
This weekend in Grande Prairie was a tough one for the senior boy’s basketball team. The team had a lot of unforced turnovers in all three games, combined with a lack of ferocity towards 50/50 balls. In addition, there was a new offensive system implemented this weekend, which had some setbacks. However, the team still managed to advance to the finals after beating Charles Spencer 87-81, followed by a 78-67 win against Peace Wapiti Academy. The boys showed a lot of determination in both games and were able to sneak by, due to the high skill level of all ten players. The win in the semi-finals, put the Grizzlies up against GP Comp in the finals. With the college atmosphere and announcers calling out their names they started the game down 13-2. The tone of the entire game was set in those first five minutes… However, basketball is a game of runs and the Grizzlies were able to claw back Comp’s lead to down 4, at the start of the third. But in the end, a few tactical coaching errors, compounded with 34% shooting on 10/29 from 2 and 36% on 13/36 shooting from deep, led the NPSS Grizzlies to their lowest scoring game this season. GP Comp came out on top with an 83-61 win. That puts the senior boys at 7-2 on the season while advancing to finals all three tournaments.
The wrestling team was in Grande Prairie on Saturday for the Northern Lights Wrestling Tournament. On the boys side, the Grizzlies faced some strong competition. Early losses were followed by a couple of wins and 4/5 boys went home with medals, with Jeffrey Wood taking gold. The girls had a tough go but learned a lot. Grade 12 Hailey Gillard had a strong showing, going undefeated in 4 matches and taking home a gold medal. The Grizzlies are excited to compete at the NCD Zone Championships in February!
Up next: Junior Girls, Senior Girls and Senior Boys are in Prince George this weekend, while the Junior Boys are in Dawson Creek. Good luck Grizzlies!
Athlete of the Week: Hailey Gillard (Gr. 12, Wrestling) – Hailey showed consistent improvement as the tournament progressed, earning her the top spot in her category. Congrats Hailey!
Posted inGeneral|Comments Off on It’s Grizzly Season! Basketball and Wrestling News
Posted inGeneral|Comments Off on Neil Squire’s Makers Making Change & School District #60/Peace River North: Partner up to Bring Accessibility Solutions to the Community
IT’S GRIZZLY SEASON! All four North Peace Basketball teams were in action over the weekend.
The Junior Girls started 2020 off strong with a tournament win at the Chetwynd Winter Basketball Tournament. After a bit of a slow start, the Grizzlies opened the tournament on Friday night with big wins against Bert Bowes and Tumbler Ridge. Both games were huge team efforts, with scoring contributions from almost all of the girls. On Saturday morning, the Grizzlies took on the Chetwynd Senior Team. Having had time to work on a new defense and full court press, the girls started with an intensity and focus that Chetwynd couldn’t match. With a final score of 66-14, the Grizzlies advanced to the 1st/2nd place game, which ended up being a rematch against Chetwynd. The girls finished the tournament strong with a 77-14 win. Congrats girls!
The Junior Boys opened the Condor Classic at Duchess Park against the home team with a decisive 57-41 win. The win put the boys up against the top team in the tournament – Charles Hays Rainmakers. The Grizzlies put forth their best effort but the eventual champions were too much to handle and the boys suffered their worst loss yet: 50-22. The next game was a match up against a surprisingly strong DP Todd team, who lead the Grizzlies the whole game. A change in defensive strategy with 3 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter helped the Grizzlies chip away at the opponents lead, but they were still down 40-52 at the end of the third. A huge defensive effort from the team led by Temmy, Devon, Cy and Zack brought the team to a lead of 1 point with 17 seconds left in the fourth. A good free throw from DP Todd tied the game at 61 with 9 seconds left. Again, the team relied on tight individual and team defense to force overtime. In overtime, a big 3 point shot from captain Cy Bellamy and a lay up from co-captain Devon Lee sealed the win for the team with a final score of 66-61 and a 3rd place finish.
The Senior Boys were at Prince George Secondary School at a tournament that ended up being their biggest challenge yet. The Grizzlies started with a bye, as Caledonia couldn’t make it due to weather, so the boys automatically advanced to the 2nd round. Their first official game was against DP Todd, the number 3rd ranked AA team in BC. It was a close game the entire time, but Grade 12 Liam Peterson led the way to a 84-79 victory with 35 points. Up next was the final against the number 1 AA team in the province, Charles Hays. The Grizzlies kept it close the whole first half, only trailing by 5 in the 2nd. However, foul trouble and injuries cost them the game. The Rainmakers were too big, strong and fast for the Grizzlies to handle and the game finished with a final score of 95-68. Overall, the team played amazing and the loss against Charles Hays showed the boys what they really need to work on.
The Senior Girls started the new year in Grande Prairie with a close back and forth battle against PWA. They fell just short of a win, with a final score of 52-47. Saturday morning started with a strong win against Peace River High. The girls stepped up again to win against High Level in the consolation final game. All-star of the tournament was Jordynn Mcpherson, who demonstrated hard work, energy on the court, teamwork and averaged 20 points a game. Special shout out to Isabella Ziebart who stepped up to demonstrate her creative instincts and help lead the team to Saturdays two wins.
Athlete of the Week: Nathan Narciso (Gr. 12, Sr Boys Basketball). Nathan was the 6th man who came off the bench and played with an incredible amount of heart.
Up Next: The Junior teams are playing at home this weekend in the New Years Classic, co-hosted by North Peace and Bert Bowes. The Senior Boys are in Grande Prairie at GPRC. The wrestling team is at their first tournament of the season at Alexander Forbes School in Grande Prairie.
The student counsel will be putting on a turkey-on-a-bun luncheon today to send our students off for the winter break. The lunch is sponsored by the pantry program and we are suggesting students pay $2 donation for lunch.
