Five things to watch for this week in the world of Southwest La. prep sports.

Return to the hardwood: While football and volleyball are about to enter the postseason, small school basketball kicks off today.

Several area girls teams are poised for big seasons again.

Hathaway, who finished as the Class B runner up to 13-time state champion Fairview for the second consecutive season, returns nearly its entire lineup including first-team all-state guard Chloey Guidry (24 ppg), plus sophomore guard Madison Suire and forwards Brea Baca-White and Lamiyah Sanchez.

Hathaway looks to win its first state championship since 1970.

Fairview has won the last two Class B state championships and looks to add to its impressive state championship haul. The Panthers top returner is first-team all-state senior guard Rylee Cloud (23 ppg) but will have to replace state MVP Rylee Jinks, who graduated in the spring.

Reeves reached the Class C finals last in March for the second time in three seasons and returns junior guard Maddie Ford and junior forward Faith Cauthron to build the next state tournament run around.

Reeves opens the season today at home against Singer, while Hathaway will travel to Glenmora on Tuesday.

Fairview will host a three-day tournament starting on Thursday.

Volleyball postseason: The LHSAA will release the volleyball playoff brackets today with a half dozen area teams likely to land a home game in the first round.

This year’s state tournament will be played at the Cajundome in Lafayette after Hurricane Ida damaged the Pontchartrain Center in August.

Sam Houston (26-11), fresh off winning the Division I, District 2 championship, is ranked seventh in the latest unofficial Division I power rankings while Sulphur is No. 14.

Sulphur (21-14) is looking for its second trip to the state tournament in as many seasons, while Sam Houston is looking for its first since 2016.

In Division III, Iota (No. 5, 21-18), Iowa (No. 7, 17-18) and St. Louis Catholic (No. 8, 16-19) are all ranked in the top-10, while Westlake (13-18) is 13th and should get a home game in the first round.

Triple Crown: District 4-1A could finish in a three-way tie as Grand Lake, Hamilton Christian and Basile are all 5-1 in district play and each is 1-1 in head-to-head matchups. Two of the three will try to lock up a share of the title Thursday with Grand Lake hosting East Beauregard and Hamilton hosting Merryville.

Basile hosts Oberlin on Friday.

Grand Lake is ranked No. 2 in the most recent unofficial Class 1A power rankings, while Basile is 10th and Hamilton is 13th in Division IV.

Almost in the bag: Lake Charles College Prep extended its streak of consecutive District 4-3A championships to four with a 27-26 down-to-the-wire win over previously unbeaten Iowa. The Trailblazers can claim the district title outright this week with a win over South Beauregard. Iowa could still get a share of the title with a win over St. Louis and a LCCP loss.

Final test: Rosepine earned at least a share of the District 5-2A championship with a win over Oakdale last week, scoring 29 points in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 48-27 win. But DeQuincy could snag a piece of the title with a win over the Eagles this week. The Eagles are averaging 49.2 points per game led by running back Grant Ducote (1,504 yards, 30 TD) and quarterback Ethan Frey (1,385 yards, 21 TD).

The Tigers have won three of their last four games led by running back Taije Ceasar, who has 1,276 rushing and receiving yards and 17 total touchdowns.