As the holiday season approaches, so does the rush of college basketball tournaments, and a few area teams will partake in tournament play this weekend.

Leading that list may be the WVU Tech men's basketball team, which plays host to the fourth annual Baisi Tournament, named after former Tech coach Neal Baisi.

The Golden Bears (6-3) enter the tournament coming off a road loss to Southern Virginia, a setback coach Bob Williams attributes to poor shooting and a very motivated SVU team.

"It was their home opener, and they were really jacked up," said Williams. "Plus they were motivated because we beat them a couple of weeks ago here."

Tech, which defeated Southern Virginia 83-75 earlier this season, hopes to get back on track in its tournament games against Tennessee Temple tonight and Cincinnati-Clermont Saturday.

Tech's women will also compete in tournament play as they travel to Bluefield State to participate in the Herb Simms Tournament. The Golden Bears (1-7) face Central State tonight.

The winner of the Tech-Central State game will face the winner of Bluefield State and West Virginia State, who square off at 8 tonight. The Yellow Jackets (4-1, 2-0) are coming off their second conference win of the season (65-59 over Glenville State), and adding a third against Bluefield could be big in a seemingly wide-open women's side of the WVC.

"[The WVC] is definitely wide open and whoever wants to take it can probably just take it," said State coach Renee Bostic.

The University of Charleston women are also a part of that wide-open scenario and they scored a key road win at Alderson-Broaddus Wednesday to pull to 2-1 in conference play. The Golden Eagles (4-2) visit Edinboro at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The UC men travel to A-B at 7:30 Saturday. The Golden Eagles (4-1, 1-0) are on a four-game winning streak.

West Virginia State's men (4-1, 2-0) will play a non-conference game at Millersville (Pa.) at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Yellow Jackets defeated Davis & Elkins 96-73 Wednesday behind Ted Scott's game-high 29 points.

Reach Ryan Pritt at 348-1749 or jcantrellf...@aol.com.

As the holiday season approaches, so does the rush of college basketball tournaments, and a few area teams will partake in tournament play this weekend.

Leading that list may be the WVU Tech men's basketball team, which plays host to the fourth annual Baisi Tournament, named after former Tech coach Neal Baisi.

The Golden Bears (6-3) enter the tournament coming off a road loss to Southern Virginia, a setback coach Bob Williams attributes to poor shooting and a very motivated SVU team.

"It was their home opener, and they were really jacked up," said Williams. "Plus they were motivated because we beat them a couple of weeks ago here."

Tech, which defeated Southern Virginia 83-75 earlier this season, hopes to get back on track in its tournament games against Tennessee Temple tonight and Cincinnati-Clermont Saturday.

Tech's women will also compete in tournament play as they travel to Bluefield State to participate in the Herb Simms Tournament. The Golden Bears (1-7) face Central State tonight.

The winner of the Tech-Central State game will face the winner of Bluefield State and West Virginia State, who square off at 8 tonight. The Yellow Jackets (4-1, 2-0) are coming off their second conference win of the season (65-59 over Glenville State), and adding a third against Bluefield could be big in a seemingly wide-open women's side of the WVC.

"[The WVC] is definitely wide open and whoever wants to take it can probably just take it," said State coach Renee Bostic.

The University of Charleston women are also a part of that wide-open scenario and they scored a key road win at Alderson-Broaddus Wednesday to pull to 2-1 in conference play. The Golden Eagles (4-2) visit Edinboro at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The UC men travel to A-B at 7:30 Saturday. The Golden Eagles (4-1, 1-0) are on a four-game winning streak.

West Virginia State's men (4-1, 2-0) will play a non-conference game at Millersville (Pa.) at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Yellow Jackets defeated Davis & Elkins 96-73 Wednesday behind Ted Scott's game-high 29 points.

Reach Ryan Pritt at 348-1749 or jcantrellf...@aol.com.