Area teams will kick off the winter sports season next week. The Wright City and Warrenton boys basketball teams will travel to the Bank of Old Monroe Tip-Off Classic in Winfield. The Wright City girls begin their season at the Orchard Farm Tournament. The Warrenton boys took the third seed in the bottom bracket at Winfield. The Warriors will meet second-seeded North County Tech in the season opener on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. "Our offseason was really successful, and we got a lot of games in as a group," said Coach Eric Burle. "We're going to have some inexperience and be quite a bit smaller than last year, but that's part of high school basketball." Warrenton is coming off an 11-15 season in which it finished fourth in the GAC North Conference. The Warriors took third in the Winfield Tournament last season, losing to North County Tech during the second round. They return just one varsity player from a year ago and do not have any seniors on the team. Junior Scotty Lathrop returns the Warriors most varsity experience, having averaged five points and 4.3 assists per contest last season. "We're pretty much replacing the whole team, except Scotty," said Burle. "He was one of the key components of our teams last year." Wright City welcomes back four returning starters, including the top two scorers. Senior Shakar Butler averaged 13.6 points per contest, while junior Deon Bradshaw chipped in 9.2 points per game last season. The fourth-seeded Wildcats will open the their season against top-seeded Christian High School on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. Wright City is coming off a 5-16 campaign in which it finished last in the Winfield Tournament. The Wildcats played Christian High twice last season. They lost by 27 in the first meeting during the Clopton Tournament in early January. Wright City returned the favor, beating the Eagles 54-50 at home during mid-February. Coach Mark Scacewater says he is optimistic about the level of experience his team returns. "We do have some optimism, because we do have some question marks that will probably be answered after that first game," said the second-year coach. "I really feel Deon will be a gamechanger night in and night out on both ends of the court." Scacewater adds that he is pleased the development of 6-foot-5 sophomore Brent Ringes over the past year. The Wright City girls begin their 2009-10 campaign on Monday at 7 p.m. versus top-seeded Cardinal Ritter. Coach Dave Chapman says his team is facing a tall task in its season opener. Cardinal Ritter is coming off a Class 3 state title run last spring. "We're going to find out where we are at pretty fast," said Chapman. "For the first time in three years we're going to some varsity experience. We've been through the wars with people pressing us and getting in our face." The Wildcats are looking to build on a 3-21 season in which they went winless at the Orchard Farm Tournament. Wright City lost three seniors from last year's team but returns its top scorer and rebounders. Danielle Stiers averaged 9.8 points a game, while sophomore Abby McNeill pulled down 3.6 boards per contest. "We're a lot further along than we were at this time last year," assured Chapman. "We face a daunting task right away, but the girls are excited and ready to play." The Warrenton girls will not begin their season until the following week, when they travel to Francis Howell on Tuesday, Dec. 8.