Enter Fairfield

They're back.

After almost one month of high school basketball, the weekend will see the return of the Fairfield Trojans to the court.

Fairfield was originally set to play Burlington in a girl-boy Southeast Conference doubleheader Friday, but the Grayhounds are still out for COVID-related reasons.

Nonconference games will be played instead. Fairfield's boys will travel to North Scott while the Trojan girls will host Pekin.

It will be the debut for new girls head coach Pat Pacha. The varsity game is set for a 7:45 p.m. tip time.It will be the second game of the 2020 calendar year between the Fairfield and Pekin girls basketball teams. The Trojans rolled past the Panthers in February, winning 59-23.

Pekin will enter Friday night's game at 2-4 overall with wins over Albia and Wapello.

While Pekin plays at Fairfield, the Washington and Mt. Pleasant basketball teams will renew their rivalries in both girls and boys action with girls games in Washington and boys in Mt. Pleasant.

The last time Washington and Mt. Pleasant met in girls basketball, the Demons snapped an eight-game losing streak in the series with a thrilling 50-47 overtime win. Washington's Anna Nacos scored 19 points in that game, and leads the 0-5 Demons with 9.5 points per game this year.

The Panthers, led by sophomore Andrea Lopreato (14.7 points per game), will be looking to bounce back from a couple close home losses, including a devastating one-point loss to Keokuk one week ago.

The Mt. Pleasant and Washington girls have split the last 30 matchups at 15 apiece. Before their win in January, Washington hadn't beaten Mt. Pleasant since 2016.

The Washington boys won two out of the three games played between the Demons and Panthers last season, but Mt. Pleasant knocked the Southeast Conference champs out of the postseason in the district semifinals. Washington snapped an eight-game losing streak to Mt. Pleasant in their first showdown last year, and then squeaked out a one-point win on January 24. Exactly one month later, Mt. Pleasant defeated the Demons 68-51 to advance to the district finals.

Washington junior Kasen Bailey and sophomore Ethan Patterson have each scored 15.3 points per game through the first three. Senior Brevin Wilson leads Mt. Pleasant with 11.2 points per game.

Less than 24 hours later, Washington and Fairfield will make up a doubleheader scheduled for earlier this year. Fairfield will host both games with the girls playing at 3:30 p.m., and the boys following.

The Fairfield girls have won 12 straight over Washington, having not lost to the Demons since 2014. The Trojans won both games last year, 50-26 and 61-48.

The Demons won both boys basketball games against Fairfield last year, winning 69-32 in the first showdown and 62-46 in the second. Before last season, Fairfield had won seven straight.

The Washington-Fairfield games aren't the only contests scheduled around the SEC this weekend. Fort Madison will travel to Keokuk in both boys and girls basketball on Friday night, meaning five of the six conference teams will be in action.

Fort Madison's girls are 0-1 in the league, 3-1 overall, with the loss a devastating one by a single point to Mt. Pleasant. Keokuk got a late start to its season and the girls fell out of the rankings after a nonconference loss to Central Lee.