THE WEEK AHEAD: AFTER JOSH PALMER FUND HOLIDAY TOURNEY IS CANCELED, SOME TEAMS FROM THE TOURNEY WILL FACE EACH OTHER (2021-12-26)

Southern Tier Sports Report
This week was set to be one of the most exciting weeks of high school basketball with the annual Josh Palmer Fund Holiday Tournament.

However, Covid caused the tournament to be canceled, and now the week looks a lot different.

While some teams now have the week off, others are still working on their schedule, so some games could be added later in the week.

A pair of area schools have added games against teams that would have been down here for the Palmer Tournament as the St. Mary’s girls and Jamestown boys will head down and play a doubleheader with Elmira on Wednesday and with Horseheads on Thursday, while Corning added a game against another team that was planning to be in the Palmer Tournament, as they make a trip to Hornell.

Here’s a look at the week’s schedule and how many events are on tap.

MONDAY (1)
* The Corning girls head to Hornell for a non-league game. The two teams were both planning to be at the Palmer Tournament, although they would have been in different brackets in the tournament as Corning had planned to play in the girls division and Hornell in the regional division. Hornell enters ranked 14th in the state in Class B. They are 5-1 on the year, while Corning is unbeaten.

TUESDAY (0)
* There are no Events scheduled.

WEDNESDAY (4)
* The Elmira girls play host to St. Mary’s, another team from the Palmer Tournament. They are led by senior Shay Ciezki, who is committed to play at Penn State. Ciezki averaged 25 points, 7.5 assists, 7 boards and four steals a game last year. She entered the year with 1,370 points. Elmira is ranked 17th in the state and St. Mary’s is 15th.

* The Elmira boys play host to Jamestown, who also would have been in the Palmer Tournament. Jamestown is ranked 19th in the state rankings. They are led by Trey Drake, who had 21 points in a recent win for Jamestown. Drake is a football standout, who was an all-state quarterback and is getting interested from Division I and IAA schools. They also feature Jeral Farmer, who is 6-foot, 7-inches tall and is a standout on the defensive line for the football team as well.

* Horseheads and Corning wrestle in the first day of the Windsor Tournament. Both teams are off to strong starts this year as they head to the annual wrestling tournament.

* Corning, Notre Dame, Elmira and Horseheads all head to Cortland for an indoor winter track and field invitational

THURSDAY (3)
* Horseheads and Corning wrestle in the second day of the Windsor Tournament. Both teams are off to strong starts this year as they head to the annual wrestling tournament.

* The Horseheads girls play host to St. Mary’s. St. Mary’s will make the trip to the area and play back-to-back days against area teams.

* A day after Jamestown takes on Elmira they will travel to Horseheads to take on the unbeaten Blue Raiders, who are honorable mention in the state rankings.

(Admission to the Horseheads basketball doubleheader is $5 for adults and $3 for kids. All the money will go to benefit the Josh Palmer Fund. They will also be taking donations throughout both games as they try and help the Josh Palmer Fund which raises money for local families dealing with cancer, after the Josh Palmer Fund Holiday Tournament was canceled).

FRIDAY (0)
* There are no Events scheduled.

SATURDAY (0)
* There are no Events scheduled.