One of the annual holiday highlights for local sports fans takes place Monday and Tuesday in Picayune at Kelly Wise Gym.

The Picayune Holiday Classic kicks off Monday morning at 10, and as usual will be hosted by the Maroon Tide and Lady Tide teams.

The event consists of 16 games, eight each day, with games slated to start every 90 minutes from 10 a.m., to 8:30 p.m.

Of those 16 games, 12 will feature teams from Pearl River County as the boys and girls teams from not only Picayune but Pearl River Central and Poplarville will be participating as well.

The host Picayune teams will close out play each night, playing the final two games on Monday and Tuesday.

The Maroon Tide stands an even 6-6 on the season coming into the tourney, and is coming off a close loss at the buzzer to Vancleave Tuesday. Head coach Tom Taylor’s team will face St. Patrick from Gulfport and their all-star 6-foot-10 center Daniel Grieves Monday night at 8:30. Grieves is coming off a 29 point performance in a 64-62 overtime win over Hancock in the War on the Shore last week. The Maroon Tide is familiar with Grieves, as he started for former division rival St. Stanislaus for the past two season’s before transferring to SPHS this season after his dad Danny took over as the head coach of the Fighting Irish. St.Patrick is 9-5 on the season.

The Lady Tide enter the fray at a solid 9-4 on the year, but will be looking to snap a two game losing streak as they take on St. Patrick as well Monday at 7:00. Head coach Jason Kennedy’s crew has dropped consecutive games to local rivals Hancock and Poplarville after winning four straight games previously. Lady Tide assistant coach Lacey Kennedy, Jason’s wife, was the former head coach for the Lady Irish several years ago. The SPHS girls are 5-11 on the year.

Both PRC squads will be in action early Monday morning, as the Lady Devils take on Pine, La., to kick off the event at 10:00 with the Blue Devils to follow taking on Resurrection from Pascagoula at 11:30.

The Lady Devils are 2-12 on the season, and will be looking to snap a 10 game losing streak Monday. On Tuesday, the Lady Devils must face Biloxi, and the Lady Indians are 13-3 on the year.

The Blue Devils are also looking to improve their overall mark with a win, as they stand 4-11 on the season and have lost four straight games.

Both Poplarville teams waste no time in getting into action either, as the Hornets take on Vancleave at 1:00 Monday afternoon and the Lady Hornets face an always solid George County team at 2:30.

The Hornets are just 2-9 on the year, but have won two of their past three games with both wins coming against PRC. Vancleave is 7-6 on the year.

The Lady Hornets stand an impressive 9-3 on the season, and come into play in the event on a four game win streak.