The break’s over for the locals

It’s that time of year again. The holiday season is upon us, and that means area basketball teams are gearing up for the NBC29/The Daily Progress Holiday Classic.

Eight boys and eight girls teams will participate in this year’s tournament, which begins today. First-round boys games will be played at Albemarle High, while Charlottesville High will host the girls’ opening round.

Four local boys teams — Charlottesville, Covenant, Albemarle and Buckingham County — are competing in the tournament this year. Filling out the bracket are Heritage-Lynchburg, Spotswood, Waynesboro and Culpeper.

Heritage and Spotswood will open today’s full slate of games. Charlottesville, which is coming off a Jefferson District win over William Monroe, will meet Covenant in the second game. The Black Knights, who advanced to the Group AA quarterfinals last season, have an abundance of talent again this year. CHS is led by senior Kevin Leatherwood, who was named the district’s top player last season. But the team has a number of capable athletes who can carry the load, including Omari Minor, Maurice Jackson and Terrence Briggs.

Brian Clarry, a senior forward, powers the Eagles’ offense. The sharpshooter scored 29 points — including eight 3-pointers — in a loss to Blue Ridge earlier this month. Covenant (0-4) has struggled against quality opponents this season, and will be playing in its first game in over two weeks.

Other first-round matchups include Albemarle-Waynesboro and Culpeper-Buckingham.

Albemarle (4-4) looks to rebound after a loss to county rival Monticello. The Patriots have several returning starters, including Adam Utz, Andre Roberts and Cameron Anderson. Utz and Roberts are skilled shooters, while Anderson, at 6-foot-7, has become a force inside and is adept at rebounding and blocking shots.

Buckingham, the only Group A school in the boys tournament, is coming off a loss to defending state champion Nelson County. The Knights also advanced to the state tournament last year and are led by senior D.J. Jones, who recorded his 1,000th point earlier this season. However, Jones left the game against Nelson with an ankle injury. His status for tonight’s game is unknown.

On the girls side, four local teams — Albemarle, Charlottesville, Orange County and Miller School — are among those competing for this year’s title.

Spotswood and Culpeper meet in the day’s first game, while Patrick Henry-Roanoke and Waynesboro will battle in the night game.

Albemarle plays Orange County in the first round, while one of the most intriguing girls’ matchups looks to be Charlottesville against the Miller School.

The Patriots (5-4) have already played a number of Commonwealth District games and tuned up for the tournament with a win over Monticello. In fact, Albemarle has knocked off several other Jefferson District teams already, with wins over Western Albemarle and Charlottesville.

The Hornets are poised for another strong season in the JD this year after finishing as the runners-up last season. Orange has several veteran players on its team, and returns guards Christina Harvey, Skylar Scott and Dee Dee Hopkins, who have carried the bulk of the scoring load.

Charlottesville, which advanced to the state tournament last season, has strung together a couple of wins, but has struggled to put it all together so far this year. The Black Knights have experience on their side with leading scorers Shawntae Payne and Shalita Brown back in the fold, but lack another consistent scorer or rebounder.

The Mavericks are unbeaten (4-0) thus far, but have not played a game since Dec. 10. Miller has beaten another Jefferson District team this year — Western Albemarle — and secured a win over Waynesboro, which is also competing in the tournament. The Mavericks were state runners-up in VISGBA Division III last year.

Semifinals of the tournament will be held on Dec. 29 and the championship games will be held at Charlottesville on Dec. 30.