The Southeast Conference basketball season gets underway tonight in Washington when the Demon girls and boys welcome Fairfield for a doubleheader. 

The Demon girls sit at 0-1 after a 58-27 loss to Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont last week. The orange and black have just one senior and had to replace two of their top three scorers from last winter. Kaylin Long started up her junior campaign with 10 points against the Rockets. Fairfield is 0-1 after falling to Oskaloosa 59-55 on Tuesday. The Trojans went 11-9 last winter and return their top four scorers. Five seniors make up the starting five with Delaney Breen putting up 20 points in the loss and Danielle Breen adding 15. Washington will try to snap a 14 game losing skid against their conference rival dating back to 2014. 

This is the season opener for the Washington boys and they start their quest for a third straight SEC crown. Last year they finished 15-7 and lost just one starter in Trashaun Willis to graduation. Five players bring back loads of experience led by the top two scorers in Ethan Patterson and Kasen Bailey averaging 15.7 and 13.9 points per game, respectively. Lance Sobaski, Lucas Kroll, and Travis Leyden round out the key returners with the goal of adding some depth with newcomers off the bench. Fairfield is 1-0 after defeating Oskaloosa 63-44 and they are one year older after returning almost the entire roster from last winter’s 6-13 campaign. Max Weaton is a handful downlow with the 6’4’’ forward averaging 19.6 points as a sophomore and in Tuesday’s opener he dropped 23. Washington seeks their fifth straight win against Fairfield. 

The girls’ game gets underway at 6 p.m. tonight in Washington with the boys’ to follow and listen to it all on FM 106.1 KCII.