High school basketball action continued last week as teams in Lexington County work to get in top shape for the region season. 

This week will be the final week of non-region contests before jumping into the holiday tournament schedule. Many Lexington County teams will participate in these tournaments, going head-to-head with some of the best teams in South Carolina. 

Three notable events will be taking place right here in Lexington County. 

One of the earliest holiday tournaments to tip off is Batesburg-Leesville’s Hoops for Hope event. The event will include eight teams, including two from Lexington County. 

Batesburg-Leesville and Chapin join Columbia, Richland Northeast, Eau Claire, Aiken, Military Magnet and the Aussie Travelers, coming from the land down under. 

The event tips off this Thursday and will crown two champions on Saturday. 

The inaugural Lexington Roundball Classic takes place Dec.26-28 and will have Lexington, Dutch Fork and White Knoll serve as local representatives. The Lexington Roundball replaced the Cayce Roundball Classic when Wildcats coach Robert Wells made the move from Brookland-Cayce to Lexington. 

North Augusta, T.L. Hanna, Hammond, Byrnes, Fort Mill, Indian Land and CA Johnson are also participating. 

To end the year, Irmo will host its inaugural Big Red Box Holiday Invitational Dec. 29-31. The first edition of the Irmo tournament will feature the Yellow Jackets and six other in-state teams and one from New York.

After these tournaments, teams will return to regularly scheduled games, and, more importantly, the region season. 

These region games will determine what seed teams earn for the postseason, or if they even qualify for the playoffs at all. That is why teams build their schedules with competitive non-region games and tournaments before the new year. 

For some teams, though, the region games have already begun. 

The four Lexington County teams in the 4A Region 4 conference had to start their games last week. With eight teams in the region overall, they had to start early to play everyone twice. 

It was a mixed week for the four local teams. Gray Collegiate and Brookland-Cayce dominated in wins, but Airport and Gilbert came up on the short end. 

The War Eagles defeated Midland Valley 84-36 and had a big game this week against last season's region champions, North Augusta. That game was played on Tuesday, and Gray pulled off a 64-56 win, putting the team in the driver's seat early. 

Below are a few more exciting games upcoming, as well as scores and top performances from last week. 

Upcoming games to watch

Lexington vs. Spring Valley - Dec. 18

Gray Collegiate vs. Tullahoma - Dec. 18

White Knoll vs. Brookland-Cayce - Dec. 19

Swansea vs. Beaufort - Dec. 22

Last week’s top performances 

Peyton Jennings had 30 points and nine rebounds for White Knoll in a win over Aiken.

Jayden Fields recorded 18 points and eight steals as Pelion beat Ridge Spring-Monetta in double overtime. 

Christian Brown scored 23 points and added five steals to help Irmo beat Blythewood. 

Justus Bells had 19 points, four rebounds and five assists in Dutch Fork's win against Spring Valley. 

Last week’s scores 

Chapin - Ben Lippen (70-54, L), Catawba Ridge (52-42, L)

Dutch Fork - Dreher (63-29, W), Spring Valley (78-53, W)

Irmo - Blythewood (60-45, W), Spring Valley (61-47, W), Dreher (54-31, W)

Lexington - Northwestern (69-45, L)

River Bluff - Indian Land (70-31, L), A.C. Flora (70-36, L), Northwestern (54-48, L)

White Knoll - Aiken (67-48, W), Lower Richland (56-48, W), Blythewood (66-63, L)

Airport - Richland Northeast (45-33, L), Mid-Carolina (42-38, W), Aiken (77-35, L)

Brookland-Cayce - York Prep (69-54, W), South Aiken (62-47, W), Denmark-Olar (70-32, W)

Gilbert - North Augusta (68-14, L)

Gray Collegiate - Midland Valley (84-36, W), The Burlington School (70-58, W), Davidson Day (85-46, L)

Swansea - American Leadership (62-23, L), Pelion (75-45, L)

American Leadership - Swansea (62-23, W), Eau Claire (Forfeit, W), Columbia (65-44, W)

Batesburg-Leesville - Aiken (80-58, L), Augusta Christian (59-21, W)

Pelion - Newberry Academy (52-28, W), Ridge Spring-Monetta (57-56 2OT, W), Swansea (75-45, W)

Northside Christian - Wilson Hall (69-46, L)