Holiday tournaments: Best games to watch this week
In this article:
The gifts have been opened, the wrapping recycled and the turkey digested. You know what that means. It's time for the annual run of holiday basketball tournaments across Minnesota. There are more than 30 multi-team events scheduled this week featuring over 200 games. Stretching from the Northwest corner of the state at Sacred Heart in East Grand Forks to the Northeast with Chisholm, Cloquet, Ely and Esko; from Rushford-Peterson and Rochester in the Southeast to Marshall in the Southwest; to Twin Cities tournaments at South St. Paul, Park Center, Hill-Murray and more. Yep, it's a busy week.
Most of the events have four teams, some have six. Among the bigger happenings are Hill-Murray, Monticello, Pelican Rapids and Winona State with eight squads entered. The Rochester Rotary Classic, in its final iteration this year, has 12 participating teams. Southwest Minnesota State University always hosts a great tournament and they've got 14 entries. The granddaddy of them all, of course, is Breakdown's Granite City Classic which features 22 girls teams playing at six sites in the St. Cloud region on Thursday and Friday.
These are the best five games to watch each day this week.
Mya
Morris
5'7" | PG
Perham | 2023
State
MN
&
Willow Thiel
Willow
Thiel
5'11" | PF
Perham | 2024
State
MN
of PerhamTUESDAY DEC. 27
- Barnesville vs Sauk Centre – 2 p.m. at Perham
- Chanhassen vs Rogers – 5:15 p.m. at St. Michael-Albertville
- Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial vs St. James – 5 p.m. at New Richland
- Waconia vs Perham – 5:30 p.m. at Perham
- Sleepy Eye vs Lac Qui Parle Valley – 6:30 p.m. at SMSU (Marshall)
Samantha
Voll
5'9" | CG
Monticello | 2026
State
MN
of MonticelloWEDNESDAY DEC. 28
- Rosemount vs Spring Lake Park – 3:30 p.m. at Eastview
- Hancock vs Crookston – 4:30 p.m. at Fergus Falls
- Maple River vs Caledonia – 4:30 p.m. at Goodhue
- Mankato West vs Marshall – 8 p.m. at SMSU (Marshall)
- Grand Rapids vs Monticello – 8 p.m. at Monticello
Alexis
Schroeder
5'5" | CG
Caledonia | 2023
State
MN
of CaledoniaTHURSDAY DEC. 29
- Caledonia vs Goodhue – 3 p.m. at Goodhue
- Chaska vs Eden Prairie– 4:15 p.m. at Park Center
- East Ridge vs Rosemount – 5:15 pm at Eastview
- Becker vs Alexandria – 6:45 p.m. at St. Cloud State
- Holy Family vs Albany –7 p.m. at St. John's University (Collegeville)
Madison
Ohm
5'10" | CG
Byron | 2026
State
MN
of Rochester CenturyFRIDAY DEC. 30
- Duluth Marshall vs Royalton – 11:30 a.m. at Sartell
- Mountain Iron-Buhl vs Crosby-Ironton – 11:30 a.m. at College of St. Benedict (St. Joseph)
- Alexandria vs Mahtomedi – 1:15 p.m. at College of St. Benedict (St. Joseph)
- White Bear Lake vs Rochester Century – 3 p.m. at Mayo Civic Center (Rochester)
- Minnetonka vs Becker – 7:30 p.m. at College of St. Benedict (St. Joseph)
