NATCHEZ — The Christmas holidays are fast approaching for area schools and many basketball teams will take a holiday break before heading into region play.

Several area teams are not playing games this week due to mid-term exams.

Trinity, Adams County Christian, Cathedral and Natchez High are off until Friday as their students take their big tests before school lets out for winter break.

And after this weekend’s games, many teams will take a longer break before playing games again.

ACCS won’t play a game between Dec. 20 and Jan. 9, and Cathedral and Huntington take a break until Jan 2.

Other schools will take a week off before playing in holiday tournaments.

Trinity will play in the Brookhaven Academy tournament from Dec. 27-30 while Natchez High will play in the Hattiesburg Holiday Tournament from Dec. 29-31 and Cathedral will participate in the Wesson tournament from Dec. 27-30.

A local tournament that will take place during the holiday break is the Jefferson County High Holiday Tournament on Dec. 23, 26 and 27.

It will feature Jefferson County and Wilkinson County, as well as out of town teams.

The holiday break will allow some teams to get some rest and reassess their seasons before getting into region play.

Cathedral boys coach Peter Arnold knows his team is very young and hopes they can grow and improve over the break.

“We’re learning as we go,” Arnold said of his youthful team, which won its first game Saturday afternoon. “We’re building for the future, not necessarily this year. Our goal is to give it all we’ve got every game and keep improving. The talent is there.”

Cathedral’s girls also took a victory on Saturday, blasting Resurrection 57-3 to improve its record to 3-6 and 1-0 in region play.

Trinity’s boys and girls teams are off to successful starts.

The Lady Saints have an 8-6 record despite playing a tough schedule and the boys team has rolled to a 8-2 start through their first 10 games.

The Saints return to action Friday when they travel to face Centreville.

Natchez High will return home for the first time in several weeks when they host non-region opponent Ocean Springs on Saturday.

The Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs faced their first three region opponents, Wingfield, Terry and Jim Hill on the road.

The Lady Bulldogs went 2-1 in those games while the Bulldogs went 1-2.

ACCS will travel to Oak Forest Friday night to play the Yellow Jackets. The girls game will be at 6 while the boys will begin at 7:30.