BCR holiday basketball tournament preview

Tis the season for holiday hoops.

There will be girls tournaments after Christmas at Amboy, Prophetstown and St. Bede with boys holiday hoops playing out at La Moille, Marquette and Plano.

Here’s a run down of the tournament lineup:

Girls tournaments

At St Bede: There will be three new teams at the Lady Bruins Christmas Classic, including a pair of Class 1A ranked teams - No. 4 Annawan (11-3) and No. 7 Serena (10-1). The Bravettes previously played in the State Farm Classic in Bloomington-Normal and the Huskers were at Amboy.

St. Bede (9-5) handed Serena its first loss on Friday, defeating the Huskers 44-32.

Annawan heads up the Green Pool with St. Bede, newcomer Newark (4-4) and Sandwich (3-9).

The White Pool will consist of Serena, Putnam County (12-3), Fieldcrest (9-4) and Kewanee (3-9).

The tournament runs Tuesday, Dec. 26 through Thursday, Dec. 28.

Princeton, which had been in the tournament since its inception in the mid-1980s, departed for the Lady Pirate Holiday Tournament, which ran this week at Ottawa.

At Prophetstown: The Bureau Valley girls return to the Cliff Warkins Memorial Classic on Wednesday, Dec. 27 through Saturday, Dec. 30 with all games played at Prophetstown this year.

The Storm (7-6) will have pool games with Stark County (1-12) at 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 27 and Monmouth-Roseville (7-6) at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 27.

Bracket games will be played on Friday, Dec. 29 with the championship round slated for Dec. 30 starting at 3 p.m.

Other teams include Lena-Winslow, Morrison and Orion in Pool A, Wethersfield, Rockridge and Stockton in Pool B and Mercer County, host Erie-Prophetstown and Fulton in Pool D.

The boys portion of the Warkins Classic will all be held at Erie.

At Amboy: The Hall and Mendota girls are returning to the Amboy Holiday Tournament.

Hall (5-7) will play Somonauk/Leland (1-12) at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 26, Amboy (9-4) at 6 p.m. on Dec. 27 and Hiawatha (7-9) at 3 p.m. on Dec. 28.

Mendota (3-10) has games with Amboy at 6 p.m. on Dec. 26, Hiawatha at 3 p.m. Dec. 27 and Newman (7-9) at 4:30 p.m., Dec. 28.

The finals are slated for Dec. 29 starting at 3 p.m.

Boys tournaments

At La Moille: The second annual La Moille Holiday Classic expands from a round-robin format to an eight-team bracket, running Dec. 27-29. Also in the field are DePue (3-8) and newcomer Annawan (10-2).

The Lions (3-9) will face Calvary Christian (0-9) in the nightcap on the first night on Dec. 27 at 6 p.m. Also on opening day, the Little Giants will play Galva (2-6) at 3 p.m. followed by the Braves against Hiawatha (3-10) at 4:30 p.m. The day tips off with Leland (4-7) playing Lowpoint-Washburn (9-4) at 1:30 p.m.

The championship is set for 6 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 29.

At Plano: La Salle-Peru has returned to the Plano Christmas Classic after hosting its own tournament last season. The Cavaliers (9-3) gained the No. 3 seed and a first-round game against unseeded Mendota (5-6) at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 27. The Cavaliers beat the Trojans 88-47 in the third-place game of the Colmone Classic on Dec. 9.

Kaneland (9-2) and Burlington Central (6-2) are the top two seeds with Northridge Prep (7-2) and Streator (8-2) rounding out the top five.

Notes: The Henry boys will play in the Princeville Tournament while the Henry/Lowpoint-Washburn girls will play in the Earlville Tournament. ... The Bureau County Christmas Classic will be held Thursday, Dec. 28 at the Storm Cellar between the Princeton boys and host Bureau Valley. This will be the last run of the County Classic with the Tigers set to join a Christmas tournament next year.

Kevin Chlum contributed to this story