The Yukon junior female basketball team defeated the North West Territories last night, with a score of 68-50.

The Yukon team had the lead from the whistle blow.

The local team rushed ahead, with 17-year-old Robyn Fortune repeatedly tacking the basket and setting up a string of rebounds and inside jump shots from Colleen Prenoslo and Mikaela Lane.

N.W.T was aggressive, but unable to find their footing on the inside, ditching several clear opportunities to score on the Yukon squad.

By the end of the first, the local girls led 20-0 over the N.W.T.

"I think that we are really good pushing the ball and running it," said Prenoslo.

"Because we are one of the smaller teams, it's hard for us to work around the post, but we are doing pretty good at that and it's forcing us to run it lots more and I think we are doing good at the running and fast breaking."

N.W.T returned in the second, driving the ball past the Yukon defense and pressuring the Yukon girls to defend on the inside.

Rogine Olayvar, forward for NWT, kept her team in momentum, repeatedly breaking the Yukon defense and setting up the team for a series of inside baskets, narrowing the scoring gap substantially.

The Yukon girls followed with a more aggressive defense, which kept inside scoring for N.W.T low but resulted in several fouls that sent 18-year-old Yellowknifer, Kadee St. Croix, to the foul line.

The Yukon maintained the lead throughout the period with a combination of Fortune's continued line drives, netting two shots and setting up a series of jumpers and layups, mostly by Jenna Blanchette and Prenoslo.

By the third, both teams were playing the same game.

Fortune drove hard for Yukon and Olayvar continued to push the ball past the local defense.

In the end, it was a low scoring period, evenly divided between both teams.

The Yukon played an increasingly aggressive game, with a couple of steals and interceptions by Quynh Nguyen and picked up a few baskets, mostly by Blanchette.

The N.W.T picked up on the inside, carried by Annriza Enerio and her sister Mary Enerio, who moved the ball effortlessly around the Yukon defense, but were unable to land a basket.

After a rest in the first half of the period, N.W.T's Olayvar continued to land jump shots from the outside, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Yukon's inside defense.

The fourth saw the Yukon burst ahead, sealing their victory over the neighbouring territory.

With an impressive basket off the rebound by Amanda Mervyn early in the quarter, followed by a mix of jumps and lay ups by Nguyen and Lane, the Yukoners held the lead.

The N.W.T pulled Olayvar mid way through the fourth.

Though they had picked up speed in the second and third, N.W.T were never able to take the lead and left the court in disappointment.

"We were down 20 zip before we scored, we obviously didn't come out with any passion, no fire, that's not our game. That's not us," said coach Cole Marshall. "We chose a bad time to play a really terrible game."

The N.W.T's strength had been predominantly on the outside, with unchecked jump shots sailing by the local defense, most made by Olayvar.

It's not common for the team, said the coach, who usually relies on the girl's inside game.

"Our strength is our inside game. Rogine is a really good shooter but our offense runs through the post," he said.

He attributes the loss to a lack of drive among his players.

"There wasn't any sort of passion, wasn't any sort of fire, which you have to bring when you come to an international tournament like this," he said.

By game's end, the Yukon were celebrating a strong inside game and tough defense.

"We started working in October and we worked pretty hard," said Sarah Crane, head coach for team Yukon. "We've just been training, they have their school teams at the same time, which is really heavy for them, but to their credit, they have really pulled together and done a great job."

Though it is still early, the girls say the hard work will continue to pay off at this year's AWG.

"We went to Skagway and played some games there and we went to Tok and played a couple of games and I think that matches up against American teams has been good for our inside game, like toughening us up and making us rebound better and stuff like that," said Fortune. "We've also worked on it in practice too, we've played against the local women's team, who are really tough. So we're ready for this. "

As for the competition, the girls said, the N.W.T came out strong and continued to put up a good fight.

"They'll come back stronger the next time we see them," said Prenoslo.

"But so will we," Lane chimed in.

Basketball will continue throughout the week, with the Yukon girls facing Alaska tonight and the N.W.T taking on Nunavut.

The N.W.T and Yukon junior men's teams will face off tonight also.

Playoffs begin Thursday and will continue into the weekend.