Tournament time for local basketball teams

It’s the start of tournament time as high school basketball gets serious leading up to the winter break.

Here’s how local teams stand as winter heats up.

St. Vincent boys

The St. Vincent boys begin a grueling three-tournament-in-three-weekend stretch this Friday through Saturday as they travel to Boonville to participate in Anderson Valley’s traditional Redwood Classic Tournament.

The Mustangs follow up the next weekend by playing in the McMillan Tournament in Cloverdale and wrap up the tournament travel in Casa Grande’s Brett Callan Tournament just before Christmas.

When they are not playing tournaments, the Mustangs face Petaluma at home next Tuesday.

Casa Grande boys

The Casa Grande boys team heads north for its first tournament experience in the McKinleyville Tip-Off Classic this Thursday through Saturday.

The Gauchos lost their first counting game to San Marin, 43-40, last week after losing a non-counting Foundation game to Kennedy in Fremont, 48-45.

Petaluma boys

That game at St. Vincent will be the first for the Petaluma boys in almost two weeks following wins over Maria Carrillo and San Rafael to start the tenure of new head coach Anton Lyons.

The Trojan varsity’s first tournament experience comes Dec. 13-15 in Cardinal Newman’s Rose City Tournament.

Petaluma will host a junior varsity tournament this weekend, with eight teams tipping off Thursday in the Petaluma gym.

Participating along with the host will be St. Vincent, Santa Rosa, Novato, Montgomery, Maria Carrillo, Casa Grande and Branson. The championship game will be played Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

Casa Grande

Before playing in the prestigious West Coast Jamboree right after Christmas, the Casa Grande girls play in succession Miramonte in a game played Tuesday, Alameda on Friday, Redwood on Dec. 14 and Marin Catholic on Dec. 21.

All are on the road.

Casa is 1-1 starting its journey having lost to Rancho Cotate (38-33) and beaten Santa Rosa (64-37).

Casa Grande also had an impressive 61-49 win over Clayton Valley in a Foundation game that will not count in the record book. The Gauchos blistered the nets for 29 points in the third quarter to make the difference in that game.

Trinity Merwin led the Casa point barrage with 15 with Sophia Gardea adding 12, Emma Reese 10 and Bella Blue nine.

St. Vincent girls

The St. Vincent girls, coming off an impressive 60-16 win over St. Helena, step up the competition big time.

After playing in Napa against Justin-Siena from the Vine Valley Athletic League on Tuesday, the Mustangs travel to Forestville to meet El Molino from the North Bay League Redwood Division on Thursday and wrap up the week Friday night with an emotional game against Petaluma.

Petaluma girls

The Petaluma girls team, under new coach Sophie Bihn, is off to a 3-0 start beginning this week’s play.

The T-Girls will get their first experience in tournament play Thursday through Saturday in the annual Piner Tournament.

They then continue a busy pre-holiday schedule with games next Monday at Novato, Tuesday at St. Vincent and at home Dec. 14 against Marin Catholic before taking a nearly two-week break.