A trio of high school basketball tournaments began their first day of competition on Dec. 29 one day after a five-day moratorium break.
From Rice Auditorium on the campus of Wayne State College, the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge girls saw their four-game win streak come to an end following a 66-35 defeat against Pender while the LCC boys suffered a 49-25 loss to the Pendragons.
Both Pender teams improved to 8-0.
The LCC girls (4-3) and boys (3-4) will return to Rice Auditorium in Wayne on Dec. 30 during the consolation round. A win would advance them both to Wednesday's fifth place games.
The LCC girls will open the second day of the holiday tourney at 11 a.m. followed by the LCC boys at 12:30 p.m. both facing Omaha Concordia.
The Wayne girls closed out the night with a 60-40 win over South Sioux City while the Blue Devil boys earned a first round bye with only seven boys teams.
The Wayne girls (6-2) and boys (5-2) will both be in action on Dec. 30 at WSC during the 2025 Elkhorn Valley Bank & Trust Great Northeast Nebraska Shootout Wayne Holiday Tournament in the winner's bracket.
The Blue Devil boys will face Cedar Catholic at 7 p.m. before the Wayne girls close out night two of the holiday tourney against West Central (SD) at 8:30 p.m.
From Ewing, the Winside girls (3-5) won 43-30 against Wakefield (0-9) while the Wakefield boys (7-2) won their seventh straight thanks to a 60-31 victory over Winside (4-4).
All four teams will compete on the final day of the Summerland Holiday Tournament on Dec. 30.
The Wakefield girls will open the final day of the holiday tourney at 1 p.m. during the third place game against Ainsworth while the Trojan boys will close out the night against Summerland at 5:30 p.m. in the finals.
The Winside boys will play in the third place game at 2:30 p.m. against Ainsworth while the Winside girls will compete in the championship game against Summerland at 4 p.m.
From Stanton, the Tri County Northeast girls (3-4) won 55-34 over Twin River while the Allen/Emerson-Hubbard co-op boys (1-6) dropped a 69-38 decision to Twin River.
The TCNE boys will open the final day of the Stanton Tourney on Dec. 30 at 3:45 p.m. against Stanton in the third place game while the Wolfpack girls will be in the finals facing the host Stanton at 5:30 p.m.
