The Montgomery County boys and girls basketball teams are looking forward to a busy January that includes a couple of tournaments, a shootout and a contest against a Class 4 powerhouse.

The MCHS boys and girls squads will compete in the South Callaway and Hermann tournaments. The girls will start their 2024 portion of their schedule on Jan. 6, when they travel to Columbia College to play Southern Boone in the Sophie Cunningham Classic, while the boys take on St. Francis Borgia in a home game on Jan. 5 for their first game of the New Year.

The South Callaway tournament schedules were released on Dec. 20. The Wildcats are seeded first in both boys and girls divisions.

The boys will play in an eight-team bracket and will start tournament play against eighth-seeded Russellville in a quarterfinal game at 6 p.m. on Jan. 9. Last year, MCHS won the South Callaway tournament after coming back from an eight-point, fourth-quarter deficit to edge Hermann 67-65 in the finals. The Wildcats have won the South Callaway five times. They also came out on top in 2014, 2017, 2020 and 2021.

The girls will play in a six-team tournament that includes a round-robin format. MCHS will play fourth-seeded Linn at 6 p.m. on Jan. 8 and fifth-seeded Russellvile at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 10. Last year, the Wildcats lost to Fatima 48-41 in the championship game. They also were runner-ups in 2021, 1997 and 1997.

The Hermann Tournament is scheduled for Jan. 22-27. The MCHS boys and girls lost in the championship game to Hermann and Owensville, respectively, last year.

The Wildcats’ meeting against Borgia will be the first between the two schools. Borgia, a Class 4 school located in Washington, is 11-0. Last year, the Knights won 24 games, but lost to Jefferson City in the district finals. Borgia has won five state championships, with its last one in 2009.

At the Sophie Cunningham Classic, the MCHS girls will compete in a three-day event that has teams from five states and is named after the former University of Missouri standout who is now playing for the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA. There will be 17 games in the Sophie Classic. The Wildcats’ game against Southern Boone will be the first meeting between both teams since February 2016, when the Eagles won 62-33. The contest is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the Bob Burchard Court in Columbia College.

Southern Boone, located in Ashland, will take a 4-6 record into the contest with the Wildcats. The Eagles won 21 games and finished fourth in the Class 4 state tournament last winter.

Also in January, the MCHS girls will play three Eastern Missouri Conference games – Bowling Green (home, Jan. 16), Wright City (away, Jan. 18) and Van-Far (home, Jan. 30). The boys will play just one EMO game and that’s a home contest against Bowling Green on Jan. 16.

The girls are 10-1 after losing to Moberly on Dec. 30 at the Moberly Area Community College Shootout. The boys are 9-3 after pulling off a 53-51 win over Hogan Prep in the 12 Courts of Christmas Shootout at Hy-Vee Arena in Kansas City on Dec. 29.