Selma High School will host to its annual Thanksgiving Shootout Basketball Tournament this week. The tournament, which will feature eight boys teams and five girls teams, will start on Wednesday and run through Friday.

The boys field will include Selma, Ellwood Christian, Central Hayneville, Greensboro, Greenville, Fairfield, Francis Marion and Midfield.  The girls field will include Selma, Sidney Lanier, Fairfield, Clarke County and Quitman out of Georgia.

“We always try to invite some out-of-town teams, especially those that aren’t right here in this immediate area in the various classifications that we don’t see every day,” said Selma boys’ coach Woodie Jackson. “You hope to grow from the experience you get in the tournament.”

Games will start Wednesday at 11 a.m. and run through the Selma boys’ opener at 8 p.m. against Greenville. The Selma girls will play at 5 p.m. Wednesday against Fairfield.

The Selma girls will also play two games on Friday when they take on Quitman and Clarke County. No girls games will be played Thursday.

Over the last several years, the tournament started on Thursday and was completed on Saturday. Jackson said this year’s Wednesday through Friday schedule was set so the tournament wasn’t played the same day of the Iron Bowl.

“We had a very low turnout last year on that Saturday so that’s why we came to Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” Jackson said.

Boys games will start Thursday at 3:30 p.m. and games will start at noon Friday.