‘Let’s play two’ is usually a baseball saying, but after the Christmas holiday it may as well apply to high school basketball.
There are many tournament taking place with double dips all over the North Shore, Cape Ann and Merrimack Valley over the next few days.
Here’s a breakdown of some of those taking place:
In girls basketball, there’s a tournament in Rockport, which Ipswich High will participate in starting Friday. The Tigers face the Academy of Notre Dame at noon, with the other two teams being the host Vikings and Northeast Regional starting at 4 p.m. The championship and consolation contests will take place at Rockport High on Saturday.
Some of the elite boys basketball teams all gather at Merrimack College for the Commonwealth Motors Christmas Classic, now in its 49th edition. Beverly is the No. 1 seed this year, quite the honor, and opens play against St. John’s Prep on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
Action continues with the semifinals on Sunday and the final round on Tuesday. There’s also a girls tournament (featuring no locals), so there’s a smorgasbord of hoops all across the dial at Merrimack.
Another gathering of elites is the Sue Rivard Tournament at Oliver Ames High School in North Easton, where the state title-contending Bishop Fenwick girls will face Silver Lake on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Peabody High girls are off to a surprising 4-0 start and will take part in the Waltham Tournament on Monday, facing the host Hawks. The championship and consolation games will follow on Tuesday.
Swampscott will host its own tourney in boys basketball on Monday and Tuesday. Hamilton-Wenham battles Brooke Charter on one side before the Big Blue face Mystic Valley in the other.
The Big Blue and Generals girls are taking part in the Danvers Tournament at DHS when they face Essex Tech. The host Falcons battle Hamilton-Wenham on the other side.
Then there’s the BankGloucester Holiday Jamboree, which features Salem Academy, the Fishermen and Danvers in a three-team round robin format up in Gloucester on Monday and Tuesday.