Whitehorse's three high school varsity basketball squads will be teaming up this weekend for the Don Hather tournament, where they will take on the U.S.

The Porter Creek Rams, F.H. Collins Warriors and Vanier Crusaders spend most of the year pitted against each other, but for this tournament they will work together to try to stack up the wins as "Team Canada” to overcome their American opponents.

Whitehorse's senior basketball teams will be playing Skagway, Hoonah and Haines in the tournament that begins Thursday in Skagway.

Each win will count as a point, and the winning country will be that which accumulates the most wins over the four-day tournament.

"It's kind of neat to go from beating up on each other all year round, to basically being on the same team,” said Trevor Hale, coach for the Porter Creek Rams senior girls.

The high schools usually play each other year round, which Hale said can get a bit stale.

"It's just fun to play somebody different,” he said.

It has been a few years since Whitehorse has been invited to this tournament, Hale said, and it is the first tournaments in this style that he has ever been to.

Hale said his team is going down there to get points for the Canadian team.

"We're going down to win,” he said.

He expects an exciting tournament due to his team's style of play.

"My team plays a real fast pace,” said Hale.