Pleasant Valley boys and girls pull off Northern Section basketball three-peat

Both teams knock off rival Chico for crowns with double-digit margin wins

OROVILLE, Calif. — The Pleasant Valley Vikings boys and girls basketball teams each earned Northern Section Division 3 championships for a third straight season on Friday.

The stands at Butte College were packed full as the two Chico schools faced off in the boys and girls CIF-Northern Section championship.

The boys won 54-41 and the Pleasant Valley girls prevailed 60-43.

It is the fifth straight section crown for the PV boys, the defending CIF D3 state champions who won their second state state championship in four seasons in 2022.

Both games were back-and-forth between in the first half, but the Vikings dominated the third quarter in both games. 

The PV girls outscored the Panthers 17-7 in the third quarter to take a 41-33 lead, before outscoring the Panthers 19-10 in the fourth.

“Every year PV basketball has a target on their back because we’ve been the top dogs for a while. To see that come to fruition is great to finally have that,” said Pleasant Valley captain Luke Kremer, a senior. 

Kremer, the Vikings’ leading scorer in the regular season, finished with 14 points. “You’re building up to that all year, each game is getting tighter and tighter, and then boom. It finally blows and it feels great.”

Vikings’ boys coach Tim Keating said he would’ve never imagined winning five straight section titles.

“It's a tribute to our program and our coaches and admin. Our coaches have done a great job with the kids at the freshman and JV level,” Keating said. “We get the kids to buy into our culture, we have fun, we make them work hard and we make them earn the big ones.”

Boys Northern Section D3 championship
Pleasant Valley 54, Chico 41

Star players: Gabe Garretson (PV) 20 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists; Rashad Samuels (Chico) 12 points
History: Sixth title in 15 years for the Vikings.

Girls Northern Section CIF D3
Pleasant Valley 60, Chico 43

Star players: AJ Gambol (PV) 21 points; Campbell Vieg (Chico) 19 points
History: 11th title title in 15 years for the Vikings