Your free guide to Minnesota’s holiday hoops season

Who doesn't love the holidays! For hoop heads in Minnesota, the days after Christmas offer a plethora of viewing opportunities with more than 30 tournaments scheduled for Dec. 26, 27, 28 and 30th. From Ely and Chisholm up north to Rushford-Peterson and Rochester Lourdes down south, you can definitely find games worth watching across the state. The biggest and best event is the Breakdown Granite City Classic, which features more than 40 girls games Dec. 27th and 28th in and around St. Cloud. It's so big that we're going to do a separate preview just before Christmas to give you all the details.

As a sneak preview, among the games scheduled at Granite City are Providence Academy vs Hopkins, Crosby-Ironton vs Goodhue, Maple Grove vs Hopkins and Alexandria vs Rock Ridge. In the meantime, here's a quick overview of the rest of the holiday tournaments next week.

5 STRONGEST FIELDS

District 196 Holiday Classic in Eagan – South Metro standouts and state contenders Rosemount, Eastview and Eden Prairie headline the event, which also features Chaska, Centennial and host Eagan. Among the stars on hand with be EP's Tori Schlagel Tori Schlagel 5'9" | CG Eden Prairie | 2025 State MN (South Dakota) and Rae Ehrman Rae Ehrman 5'9" | SF Eden Prairie | 2025 State MN (Montana) and Minnesota commit Amisha Ramlall Amisha Ramlall 5'11" | CG Rosemount | 2027 State MN of Rosemount.

St. Thomas Academy – This all-Catholic event includes STA's neighbors from Visitation led by Harvard commit Sam Wills Sam Wills 6'0" | SG Visitation | 2025 State MN . A resurgent Cretin-Derham Hall of St. Paul, sparked by 8th graders Isabella Deleeuw Isabella Deleeuw 5'7" | CG/SG Cretin-Derham Hall | 2029 MN and Madeleine Hamiel Madeleine Hamiel 5'10" | CG Cretin-Derham Hall | 2029 MN , will also be in the gym along with Holy Angels from Richfield and Holy Family of Victoria.

Breakdown Capital City Classic – With games at the University of Northwestern in Roseville and Hamline University in St. Paul, the event features powers Benilde-St. Margaret's and Minnehaha Academy along with Stewartville, Byron, Mahtomedi, Minneapolis North, Richfield, Tartan, Maranatha Christian, Woodbury and Bloomington Kennedy.

Hastings – This event features New Prague, led by rising 2027 star Maya Kilian Maya Kilian 6'1" | CG/SF New Prague | 2027 State MN and standout senior Katherine Boulanger Katherine Boulanger 5'11" | SF New Prague | 2025 State MN . The Trojans were the last Class 4A team with an unblemished record before falling to Chanhassen in a close one on Thursday. Farmington, led by 2027 standout Gianna Carpentier Gianna Carpentier 5'10" | PG Farmington | 2027 State MN , Hastings and Park Cottage Grove are also on the docket.

Hill-Murray – The Wilson sisters – 2027 Mya Wilson Mya Wilson 6'1" | CG Hill-Murray | 2027 State MN and 2030 Ashlee Wilson Ashlee Wilson 5'10" | CG Hill-Murray | 2030 MN – are worth the price of admission on their own as their Hill-Murray Pioneers host a strong Totino-Grace squad led by Chloe Nuss Chloe Nuss 5'10" | SG Totino-Grace | 2025 State MN and Maria Radabaugh Maria Radabaugh 5'9" | CG/SG Totino Grace | 2026 State MN . The rest of the field includes South St. Paul, Fridley, St. Paul Como Park, Lakeville South, Forest Lake and Minneapolis Camden.

BEST ATMOSPHERE

Hoops at the Hive in Perham – The Hive in Perham is widely thought of as the coolest gym in Minnesota and it would be difficult to disagree. The hometown Yellowjackets host Class 2A state contenders Sauk Centre along with Fargo South from North Dakota.

Borch's Holiday Classic at Southwest Minnesota State – This long-time event features Class 3A contenders Marshall led by SMSU commit Taleigha Bigler Taleigha Bigler 5'9" | PG Marshall | 2026 State MN and Class A MACCRAY led by MSU-Mankato commit Brielle Janssen Brielle Janssen 6'1" | SF MACCRAY | 2026 State MN . Among the others in the field are Dawson-Boyd, Martin Luther-GHEC-Truman, Westbrook-Walnut Grove, Canby, Lac qui Parle Valley, Sleepy Eye, SW Minnesota Christian, Minnewaska, Minneota, Jackson County Central, Edgerton, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, Renville County West, Central Minnesota Christian, St. Clair and Tea from South Dakota.

Lewiston Auto Holiday Classic at Winona State – This annual event always offers an interesting array of competitors. This year that includes a strong Austin team led by Ajiem Agwa plus New Ulm, Kasson-Mantorville, Plainview-Elgin-Millville and Winona Cotter. Other Minnesota participants include Lewiston-Altura, Chatfield, Waseca, Winona, and Rochester John Marshall with Wisconsin entrants Prairie du Chien and and Gale-Ettrick-Trempeauleau.

MORE TOURNAMENTS

For complete schedules, the best source is mngirlsbasketballhub.com which has a pretty solid list that can be sorted by date, location or team.