Northern Bounce Basketball Academy girls travel teams gave their Prince George hometown plenty of reasons to celebrate last weekend at the Canadian Club Basketball Championships in Langley.
All four teams ended their tournaments with victories and all came home with medals for their efforts, taking on some of the top teams in Canada.
The Northern Bounce U14s and U16s, placed in seeding pools to start the tournament, were matched in the first two games against Platinum Division teams which draw from larger population centres.
The U-14s, coached by Mike David, Stace Kelsh and Loralyn Murdoch, lost to Vancouver and Burnaby opponents in those first two games, then went 3-1 the rest of the way to win the gold in the Gold Division.
They defeated Fraser Valley Prep of Abbotsford 57-35 in Sunday’s final.
The U16s, coached by Jeff Ludditt, went 4-2 to capture gold in the Silver Division. They beat VIG Slam White of Saint-Lambert, Que., 48-25 for the championship.
The U15 girls from Northern Bounce, coached by Jordan Johnson and Emily Holmes, won five of their six games to claim silver in the Silver Division, ending with a 44-27 win over the Junior Elite U-15s of Langley.
The U17s from Prince George, coached by Northern Bounce founder Jordan Yu, also went 5-1 and claimed the bronze medal in the Silver Division. They defeated Flight Prep Red of Victoria 54-39 in their final game Sunday.
“We are so incredibly proud of how well our girls teams played and the huge steps we took forward as a program,” said Yu, who founded the Northern Bounce Academy in 2017.
“It takes a village to grow and improve at the rate our girls and boys programs have over the last few years. Huge thank-you to our amazing coaches, players and parents who put so much energy and passion into our program and teams. This year has been nothing short of special.”
Northern Bounce has sent eight teams to Langley this week for the boys national championships.
The U10-U14 tournaments started Tuesday, July 30 and run through Thursday, Aug. 1. The U15-U18 tournaments begin Thursday, Aug. 1 and wrap up Sunday, Aug. 4.
