PINETOWN — Four teams converge on Northside Monday evening to begin the annual Holiday Basketball Tournament. Washington, Southside, Terra Ceia and the Panthers will all compete for the right to call themselves the area’s best basketball team.

For Northside and Southside, it’s an important opportunity to scout each other. They will meet twice again in the New Year in 1-A Coastal Plains Conference competition.

Terra Ceia, which competes in the NCISAA, will get the chance to measure up against athletic 1-A and 2-A clubs. It lets the Knights, which are rolling with a 7-1 record to start the season, get an idea of how they stack up against deeper teams. The experience usually tends to come in handy down the road, especially once the playoffs arrive.

Just as much as they’re fighting for bragging rights, each of the four teams in the tournament is focused on learning more about its team. The Seahawks have a lot to figure out about their squad. They’re just getting their season started after a football season that took them all the way to the regional championship.

The two-day tournament will be a sort of trial by fire. Southside opened its season on Friday against Lejeune. Playing twice in a short span will make it tough for the Seahawks to find success, but it will also expose any problems with the team — problems they can address during the Christmas vacation.

Northside will aim at picking up more steam as conference play rapidly approaches. The Panthers are 4-1 early on in the season. They get a chance to build momentum on the first day when they revisit their rivalry with the Knights, which produced the best basketball game in the county last season.

Depending on how the first day goes, a third game against the Pam Pack is on the table. Washington and Northside split their home-and-home series, each picking up a win at home. Players and fans alike look forward to the possibility of rubber match to settle the score.

With 10 games already under its belt, the Pam Pack has the most in-game experience of any team in the tournament. However, with only two wins so far, it hopes to gain some much-needed traction. In addition to the win over Northside, Washington’s only other victory of the season came at home against Northern Nash.

The Pam Pack has seen some elite teams in Greene Central and Fike, but has also fallen short in some winnable games. Picking up even one win on the road in this tournament would go a long way for confidence. Washington faces a two-week layoff between the second day of the tournament and its 2-A Eastern Plains opener against Southwest Edgecombe.

Southside and Northside both start their New Year with league games, too. The Seahawks get Pamlico County and the Panthers will have East Carteret — two teams that typically finish strong in the Coastal Plains. Momentum will be at a premium.

The Northside Holiday Tournament should be an enjoyable two days of basketball for any fan, let alone those in the county that have rooting interests.