PINETOWN — A collection of the area’s top basketball teams will converge at Northside High School tomorrow, all looking to pick up a pair of wins before heading home to enjoy the holiday season.

Formally known as the Washington Daily News Tournament, the Northside Holiday Tournament, hosted by Panthers’ head coach Mike Proctor, will feature boys’ and girls’ teams from Washington, Northside, Southside and Currituck County. Terra Ceia, Lawrence and Pamlico County will also be represented by their boys’ teams, exclusively.

“We used to move it around, then the last two years Southside has had the tournament, but we’ve always wanted it,” Proctor said. “This year we got it back. We’ve been doing this tournament probably for 25 years or so.”

The tournament is sponsored by Edward Jones-Roy Parker and Tri-County Telecom and games will be held on Thursday and Friday evening, as well as Saturday throughout the day. The girls’ games will be a bracket-style tournament, where the winner of Thursday’s Washington-Southside game and Friday’s Northside-Currituck County game will square off in the championship game on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. There will also be a third-place game at 2 p.m.

Due to having seven boys teams, this week will act as more of a showcase and not be a bracket-style tournament.

With football season over, head coach Steven Flowers and Washington enter the week fully staffed for the first time this season. Joining the guard-heavy roster, including standout senior John Whitley, Azim Anthony and Sayvon Brooks, will be E.J. Peartree and Rayekwon Satterwaite, two bulky and athletic forwards who should supply the Pam Pack with a all-around boost. Washington will face Southside on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and Northside at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

As for the Panthers, they enter the showcase undefeated, powered by 6-foot-9 paint presence Edrice Adebayo, who has had quite the start to the season, averaging 37 points and 21.7 rebounds per game. Senior point guard Reggie Slade has provided a nice compliment to Adebayo, averaging 12 points and six rebounds per game. On top of Saturday’s Washington game, the host will also face Lawrence on Thursday and Terra Ceia on Friday.

Not to be discredited, head coach Sean White and the Seahawks are off to a strong start to the season. Their deep backcourt has blended nicely with center Donshae Tatum’s size and athleticism in the paint. Senior point guard Donshae Miller has yet to catch fire, but his counterpart, Rashaun Moore, has picked up the slack and led the offense. Southside will face Washington on Thursday and Lawrence on Saturday.

Then there are the Knights, who have the opportunity to make one of the loudest statements in recent team history this week. Head coach Roger Klaassen has navigated his young team to a 10-1 record to start the season, their only loss coming in Greenville at the hands of a talented Oakwood team, one the Knights would go on to beat in Pantego two weeks later. Sophomore Tyler Hendrix is averaging 20.5 points and 13.3 rebounds per game, while Chase Furlough and Quentin Van Essendelft are both averaging double figures. It will be Hendrix’s assignment to cover Adebayo when Terra Ceia faces Northside on Friday. Then, on Saturday, the Knights take on Currituck County.