Both Yukon's male and female junior basketball teams took home gold on Saturday, capping off the 2012 Arctic Winter Games with substantial victories over team Alaska.

The Yukon junior males defeated their Alaskan rivals 83-62.

Alaska started out strong, putting up the first seven points of the game early and holding the lead until the final minutes of the first.

Yukon followed up in the second, opening with a 30-31 lead, and overpowering the Alaskan defence throughout the quarter, closing with a score of 47-36 at half.

The Yukon set up a substantial lead at 67-46, after bringing the game to the Alaskan defence.

The weakened Alaskan team, couldn't keep with the the Yukon in the fourth, missing several opportunities on net and letting in a barrage of baskets by Yukon's Brian Prenoslo and Paul Hermosa.

Prenoslo was the game-high scorer, with 28 points during the match. He scored 129 points overall— the most of any player in the 2012 tournament.

"I think I was hitting some shots, I was working hard, putting up some extra shots in practice, and it's good to see it pay off like that, especially when it helps your team win the game,” he said.

Follow up scorers were Gerard New, who scored 14 points during the game and Jake Jacobs with 10 points.

"We just had to keep our composure, we closed the gap at the end of the first quarter and we ended up getting the lead at half time,” said Tim Brady, coach of team Yukon. "Our goal was to just keep pressure on them the whole game and we thought it would accumulate and take its tole in the third quarter and our guys played hard the whole game and I think we wore them down.”

Their gold ulu victory was an honour for team Yukon, especially on their home court.

"We were expecting a gold, hoping for it,” said Prenoslo. "It's always a fight when you get there but I think we expected it, we wanted it the whole time, and we achieved that.”

On the Alaskan bench, taking home the silver ulu was a proud reminder of a successful match against a Canadian team, two to three years their senior.

"It was a lot of fun. The Yukon boys are real strong, real disciplined and they did a great job, so congratulations to them,” said Charles McCubrey, head coach for the Alaskan team. "During this tournament alone our guys have grown so much, adjusting to the shot clock, which we don't have in Alaska and the rules as they are here, they did a great job. We're proud of them.”

For the Alaskan squad, Rocky Vasai put up 17 points and and Dyllon Mills and Allen Pangelinan both scored 11.

In junior girls basketball, Yukon defeated Alaska with a final score of 69-60.

Alaska held strong in the first, scoring 26 points and maintaining a six point lead entering the second.

The Yukon girls played tough defense in the middle quarters, keeping the Alaskan team down to just 17 points in the second and third, while earning 35 points of their own.

Five unanswered points in the fourth closed the victory for team Yukon, who held an 11 point lead in the last six minutes of the game.

Alaska wasn't able to return from the break away and the Yukon claimed gold.

Yukon's Robyn Fortune, 6th top scorer of the tournament, earned 13 points in the game.

Mikaela Lane took seven.

Colleen Prenoslo scored an incredible 40 points in the match and went on to be the top scorer of the tournament with a 110 point tally in the 2012 AWG.

In junior male basketball, the bronze ulu was awarded to the N.W.T. with a 50-78 loss to the Yukon in their playoff match on Thursday afternoon.

In junior girls, the bronze was also earned by the N.W.T., with a 75-63 loss to team Alaska the same day.