BRIDGEPORT, NE — A late-season basketball tournament will see a bit of a change in 2021 as it prepares to tip off.

The Western Trails Conference tournament begins on Thursday, Feb. 4, with games at home sites. The semifinals and finals will take place Friday and Saturday, Feb. 5 and 6 at Bridgeport High School not at Western Nebraska Community College (WNCC) as in years past. That change is only effective this year.

The Bridgeport boys and girls squads receive first-round byes this year as they claim the number one seeds in the tournament. This means they will not play until Friday.

Here is the first-round match ups in the girls division:

Bayard (9-9) @ Mitchell (8-12) - 5:00 p.m.

Kimball (3-10) @ Morrill (14-3) - 6:00 p.m.

Hemingford (7-11) @ Gordon-Rushville (13-6) - 5:00 p.m.

The winner of the Bayard and Mitchell will take on Bridgeport (16-3) in the semifinals round on Friday at 2:00 p.m. in Bridgeport. The victors of the other two opening-round contests will face one another at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

The championship game for the girls is set for Saturday at 5:30. The third-place game will take place at 2:00 p.m.

In the boys division, here are Thursday's opening-round games:

Bayard (10-8) @ Hemingford (11-6) - 6:00 p.m.

Kimball (0-12) @ Mitchell (12-7) - 6:30 p.m.

Morrill (12-5) @ Gordon-Rushville (11-7) - 6:30 p.m.

The winner of the Bayard and Hemingford match up will take on the Bulldogs (15-2) in the semifinals on Friday at 5:00 p.m. The teams that come out on top in the other two first-round contests will face each other at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.

The championship game for the boys is set for 7:15 p.m. on Saturday. The third place game is set for 3:45 p.m.