John Paul II Collegiate Girls basketball team play in their home tournament to kick off the season (John Paul II Collegiate/Facebook)

By Ryan Lambert

John Paul II Collegiate Basketball

John Paul II Collegiate Basketball teams medal in home tournaments to start the season

Dec 9, 2025 | 9:24 PM

The Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association (SHSAA) basketball season kicked off recently and John Paul II Collegiate has already hosted their home tournament for the boys and girls Sr teams.

The girls kicked off their season with the home tournament in the Amanda Cave Invitational Tournament and finished in second place. They won their first two games and advanced to the finals but ended up falling to Meadow Lake, who head coach Bruce Yockey said are a strong team. “They’re the defending provincial silver medalists, and they’ve returned a lot of players. So, they’re quite good.”

Yockey spoke about having their first tournament of the year on home court. “We [played] our first game in front of the school, and the gym is packed and there was a really good atmosphere. They all [got] introduced in front of the school, and there was a lot of energy, it’s a good way for them to start the year.”

When asked about the team’s strengths, Yockey said that while the team is small, they are athletic and quick which they try to use to their advantage on both ends of the court. “We play a lot of man-to-man defense to try to take advantage of that and pressure the ball. Offensively, same thing. We try to run some motion offense where we can get some quick cuts and drive to the basket.”

Dealing with some injuries and illness, the girls team finished in fourth place in their tournament this past weekend in Lanigan.After finishing second at Prince Albert’s Carlton high to start the season, the boys won their home tournament in the second tournament of the year. Head coach Cooper Olson mentioned the team saw some things to improve in Prince Albert, and he was happy with the difference from one weekend to another.

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“We made a few adjustments this week doing into this last weekend, and they really showed up. The boys really put the points of emphasis into play on the weekend,” said Olson. “It was nice to see the things that we wanted to improve on being improved on already.”

Winning the home tournament was a great moment for Olson who won the tournament for his first time in three years of coaching. “We made it to the finals last year and lost. So being able to get to the finals again this year and then finish the job was pretty cool.”

The team has nine players returning from last year which helps with the team chemistry and much like the girls team, speed is a strength of theirs.

“When we’re playing our best brand of basketball, it’s very fast up and down the floor. We like to get out in transition and run and then our ability to move the ball around and find open shooters.”

With a lot of players returning, some played senior basketball in grades 10 and 11 together, so they have high hopes for what they can do in their senior year. “Come March, we’ll see if those dreams become reality, but our expectations are quite high this season,” said Olson.

John Paul II Boys basketball team after winning their home tournament. (John Paul II Collegiate/Facebook)

The boys will play in Humboldt this weekend before the Christmas break, while the girls don’t have any more tournaments until after the break when they head to Regina for a tournament at Regina Riffel.

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Ryan.Lambert@pattisonmedia.com