As Southwest Florida welcomes 2025, high school basketball teams from the area are opening up the year in tournament mode.
"The main goal: have fun and get a victory," said South Fort Myers guard Lil'Darius Sotomayor.
Winter break may be winding down, but the action is turning up at South Fort Myers. Fourteen teams are taking the court at the Wolfpack Howl -- eight boys and six girls' squads. Every single one of them from Southwest Florida.
"I know a lot of schools don't have the opportunity to travel out of state to play," said Allen Woodard, South Fort Myers Athletic Director. "It's a great way just to showcase the talent we have here."
The ladies played round robin style, getting some good looks at the local competition, and also seeing lots of familiar faces.
"I like that I know most players on like every team was we all like grew up together," said Oasis senior Brynn Stambaugh, who was named MVP of the Oasis vs South Fort Myers game on Friday. "It's fun playing against our friends."
Facing off in an 8-team bracket, the boys are battling it out to reach the championship game on Saturday.
"You get a feel of the competition here and all that stuff," said Sotomayor. "So you really get to prepare."
"It is one of the highlights for their season," said Woodard. "They feel it's a great way to kind of show how good they are and obviously try to win it."
The Wolfpack came out and showed who's house this was, outscoring their two opponents 147-52. Securing a spot in the final game, South will face Cape Coral, who picked up a 40-point victory on day one and a thriller, six-point win on Friday.
"We came into the tournament 9-2, ranked two in the county out of all the LCAC teams," said Bobby Ebbert, Cape Coral head basketball coach. "But we definitely want to win the championship here, obviously continue to make a name, finish 12-2 with three wins [at the tournament]. And just continue to get better in the season, one percent every day."
They've both got that shot to be crowned the champs of the Howl on Saturday. The action starts with consolation games at 3pm and the championship tips off at 7:30.
BOYS:
Thursday, January 2
- Game 1: Immokalee 52, Island Coast 51
- Game 2: Cape Coral 69, Cypress Lake 27
- Game 3: Village School 74, Bonita Springs 59
- Game 4: South Fort Myers 87, Marco Island 24
Friday, January 3
- Game 5 (Consolation): Island Coast 62, Cypress Lake 43
- Game 6 (Consolation): Marco Island 65, Bonita Springs 58
- Game 7: Cape Coral 62, Immokalee 56
- Game 8: South Fort Myers 60, The Village School 30
Saturday, January 4
- Game 9 (Seventh Place): Cypress Lake vs Bonita Springs @ 3 pm
- Game 10, (Fifth Place): Island Coast vs Marco Island @ 4:30 pm
- Game 11 (Third Place): Immokalee vs The Village School @ 6 pm
- Game 12 (Championship): South Fort Myers vs Cape Coral @ 7:30 pm
GIRLS:
Thursday, Jan. 2
- Game 1: Estero 43, Mariner 31
- Game 2: Oasis 47, Cape Coral 41
- Game 3: South Fort Myers 52, Riverdale 16
Friday, Jan. 3
- Game 4: Estero 62, Riverdale 24
- Game 5: Cape Coral 40, Mariner 27
- Game 6: Oasis 51, South Fort Myers 47