Fourteen-year-old Jayden Demchuk powered the F.H. Collins Warriors to junior girls gold Saturday.

The Grade 9 standout put together an MVP performance in the playoffs, helping the Warriors get past the Porter Creek Rams in three sets during Saturday’s championship final.

The Warriors dominated the Rams early, en route to a 25-16 first-set win.

But Porter Creek clawed their way back in the second set, winning 26-24.

Led by Demchuk, F.H. Collins regrouped to down their longtime rivals 15-9 in the deciding third set.

“It means a lot because we’ve been working so hard as a team,” Demchuk said following her team’s victory. “We just grew and got way better. ... It was a big deal for us to get to the finals and to win.”

Demchuk said she and her teammates were able to channel their energy into success on the court.

Meanwhile, head coach Peter Grundmanis said he was pleasantly surprised to see his squad go undefeated in the tournament round robin.

“The girls just got off on a roll and trusted their training,” Grundmanis said. “Success begets success and it just all fell into place.”

Other members of the gold medal-winning Warriors were: Czar Lubi, Katie Vowk, Maggie Brook, Kat Wirth, Jordyn Cowan, Alice Frost, Allison Hill and Megan Prawdzik.

“We’ve never played with this particular group, just because of other commitments,” Grundmanis admitted.

“We’d never seen this particular lineup. We had a large number of girls try out and we basically trained them for this tournament.”

The Rams considered themselves lucky to earn a spot in the finals.

“Considering that it was a very close round robin tournament, it was a huge honour to be in the finals,” said Rams co-coach Emily Fedoriak.

“All the teams were very well-matched. Vanier, Dawson, F.H. and ourselves each struggled with wins and losses. It was a really evenly-matched round robin so to make it to the final was a big deal.”

Strong hits down the stretch by the Warriors were difficult to defend against, Fedoriak added.

“It was hard to adapt to that. It took us a whole set to get into, but by the second set, we were able to read their players.”

Co-coach Brittany Milner said she was proud of her players for remaining positive throughout the match.

Dawson City won bronze.