The Class A and B District tournaments open the 2008-2009 post-season this weekend and our four local schools will be back out on the court.

In Area II, Verden will host their District 8 tournament and both Tiger teams draw Friday byes. Central High and Sterling will play both Friday night games and the two winners advance to Saturday night’s championship games with the host Tigers.

The girls’ game between Central (4-10) and Sterling (8-13) is a tossup and the Lady Tigers (16-7) are the odds-on favorite to beat either one Saturday night. Sterling’s boys (8-13) should have an easy time with Central (2-12) but the Tigers (18-6) also have to be the heavy favorite Saturday.

Ninnekah’s District 2 tournament shapes up a little differently due to team records. Fletcher hosts and gets a Friday bye on the boys’ side while Ninnekah gets the girls’ bye.

The winner of the Fletcher (10-11) and Waurika (6-9) girls will play the No. 15 Lady Owls (17-3) Saturday night in what should be a routine win for them. Ninnekah’s boys (10-9) should get by Waurika (3-13) Friday but will have their hands full with Fletcher (18-5) on Saturday.

Over in Area IV, Alex goes to Calumet and will have to beat Minco Friday to advance in their District 1 tournament. The Lady Longhorns (7-11) and the Lady Bulldogs (6-13) game is too close to call but the host and sixth-ranked Lady Chieftains (20-2) shouldn’t have any problem with either one.

With 6-4 forward Brandon Carnes out for the season with a broken foot, Friday’s game with Minco (10-7) will probably be the last one for the Horns (5-10). Calumet’s second-ranked boys (21-1), like their girls, will win the district championship easily.

Finally, Amber-Pocasset has an even quirkier setup in District 4 than Ninnekah did in District 2. Both Panther teams have a bye on Friday, giving them an automatic bid to regionals, but have to travel to Stratford for Saturday night’s championship game. (Am-Po coach Sam Belcher said that the reasoning behind this was that Stratford was assigned to Minco for regionals and OSSAA didn’t want to make them travel to the same general area back-to-back.)

On the girls’ side, host Stratford (3-11) should get past Maysville (1-13) before getting throttled by the No. 13 Lady Cats (16-7). Stratford’s boys (14-4) will get a light workout from Maysville (2-12) before Saturday’s championship game with Amber (14-8), which should be a great matchup and could go either way.

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NOTE: All games times this weekend are 6:30 for the girls and 8 p.m. for the boys. District champions and runners-up both advance to regionals.