Local basketball teams to play in holiday tournaments over winter break

It’s the holiday season and many local prep basketball teams are getting set to play in various holiday tournaments.

Puyallup, Rogers and Sumner girls high school basketball teams will be traveling the farthest as the three Class 4A SPSL teams will fly out to San Diego to take part in the 2016 Surf-N-Slam Tournament, one of the top high school basketball tournaments on the West Coast, starting on Dec. 27.

“It will be a good time for us to travel together and bond,” Puyallup senior Madison Salisbury said.

Salisbury’s sentiment was shared by many of her teammates as Puyallup (3-3, 3-2) has had trouble finding a team identity as of late with consecutive losses to Bellarmine Prep (5-1, 5-0) and Rogers (4-1, 3-1).

“I think being able to get away is needed for the team since it will allow us to refocus and connect with each other better,” Puyallup senior Hannah McCann said.

Sumner (1-4) is very much in the same position as its valley rivals, as the trip down south might be what the Spartans need to reconnect as a group.

And for Rogers, it would be a chance for the Rams to continue their progress upward coming off a bounce-back win over the Vikings (55-41 on Dec. 15) after falling to Bellarmine Prep (49-41 on Dec. 10).

Success at Surf-N-Slam for Rogers will only add to the confidence of a team that has high expectations and is looking at any possible way to meet the lofty goals the Rams set at the beginning of the season.

“It’s going to be a good opportunity for us to play some other schools. To see other girls that are not from our area,” Ellie Hamel said.

“That’s going to be fun being able to play teams you won’t get to play anywhere else,” Tristan Coltom added. “We’re all really excited for this opportunity.”

Some other area holiday tournaments include:

ShoWare Shootout

The ShoWare Shootout starts Thursday (Dec. 22) at 9 a.m. at ShoWare Center in Kent.

Three area boys basketball teams will be playing in the shootout, starting Thursday with Sumner (4A SPSL), Bonney Lake (3A PCL) and Cascade Christian (1A Nisqually League) all competing.

Kentlake (0-7, 0-5 4A NPSL) will battle Cascade Christian (2-4) at 9 a.m., Yelm (2-4, 1-4 3A SSC) will play Bonney Lake (3-3, 1-3 3A PCL) at 3:30 p.m. and Sumner (0-6, 0-4 4A SPSL) will take on Enumclaw (3-3, 2-2 4A NPSL) at 5 p.m.

Tamanawis Holiday Tournament

From Dec. 27 to 29 in Surrey, British Columbia, the Puyallup (3-2, 2-2) boys basketball team will be the lone local representative to travel north to Canada.

Sterling Shootout

From Dec. 26 to 28 at Kennedy Catholic High School, Rogers’ (1-4, 0-4) boys basketball team will be the lone team competing in the tournament held in Burien next week.

This story was originally published December 21, 2016 at 12:27 PM with the headline "Local basketball teams to play in holiday tournaments over winter break."