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Washington Evening Journal
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SEC play begins Friday night
Conference’s basketball teams take on night 1 of league action
The Southeast Conference basketball season is set to kick off on Friday night, as all three Union area big schools play in their league openers.
Washington is at home on the first weekend. Mt. Pleasant and Fairfield both hit the road.
One change to the 2023-24 SEC basketball season is the move back to doubleheaders. While the majority of games in the last few years have been home-and-aways, with the boys playing in one town and the girls playing in another, the conference will be running more doubleheaders this winter.
Washington will host Keokuk in the SEC’s first games of the year. The Demon girls will be looking to snap a long losing streak against the Chiefs, as Keokuk has taken 18 games in a row against Washington in varsity girls basketball.
The Demons hope to wipe away a couple of tough losses to the Chifes last year, as Keokuk won games 58-35, and 47-28.
On the boys’ side, Washington has enjoyed a seven-game winning streak over Keokuk, and the Demons have really had the Chiefs’ number in the last five. Washington has won each of the last five meetings between the two teams by 14 points or more, including blowouts of 69-45 and 71-54 last season.
The Mt. Pleasant boys will head into Burlington, playing the Grayhounds for the first time since the Panthers beat the Grayhounds for the conference title last season.
Last year in Mt. Pleasant, the Panthers knocked off Burlington 67-57 in a game that clinched the SEC title. Previously, Burlington had won the last four matchups.
The Panther girls have owned Burlington since 2012. Mt. Pleasant has won 13 of the last 14 matchups, but the young Mt. Pleasant lineup will be facing a Burlington team that has some bite, already blasting Danville by 21 points this season.
Fairfield will go south to Fort Madison looking for some road wins. The boys will be hoping for their third win in a row over the Bloodhounds after crushing Fort Madison 51-33 and 76-56 last season.
The Fairfield girls hope to strike back after a couple of tough losses last year. Fort Madison knocked off the Trojans 60-21 and 67-17 in SEC play last year.
In all three doubleheaders, the varsity girls game begins at 6 p.m., with the boys following.
