The Lanierland basketball tournament will start Thursday instead of Friday due to the Class AAA state football semifinals between Flowery Branch and Gainesville.

The tournament is celebrating its 50th year and opens with a 4 p.m. game featuring the Lakeview Academy Lady Lions against the West Hall Lady Spartans at Lakeview Academy. Three more games will take place Thursday with Lakeview's boys taking on West Hall at 5:30 p.m., North Hall High’s girls taking on Johnson at 7 p.m. and North Hall’s boys taking on Johnson at 8:30 p.m.

The games that were originally scheduled for Saturday will go on as planned. In Saturday’s girls action, East Hall will take on Chestatee at 4 p.m., and Flowery Branch will meet Gainesville at 7 p.m. In boys games, East Hall will play Chestatee at 5:30 p.m., and Flowery Branch will take on Gainesville at 8:30 p.m.

All first round games will be played at Lakeview Academy.

The tournament resumes Dec. 8 with consolation games at Lakeview, with semifinals set for Dec. 10 and finals to be played Saturday at Flowery Branch.