The first step to Hoopla and the high school provincial basketball championships has been completed.

Conference basketball playdowns took place for schools in 1A, 2A and 3A classifications on Friday and Saturday.

The two finalists in each conference automatically advanced to regionals, with the winner getting the title as conference champion.

Middle Lake, Lake Lenore and St. Brieux won their conferences in boys play, while Middle Lake and Wynyard picked up wins on the girls side.

Overall, four more teams from the central Saskatchewan region qualified for regionals. 

Annaheim and Clavet were finalists in their conference for boys, while Lake Lenore and Foam Lake were runner-ups for girls teams.

Each classification now has 16 teams that will be seeded 1 to 16 to determine four regionals. From there, each of the four regional champions will advance to Hoopla in Regina. Humboldt's boys and girls basketball teams will also compete in regionals. They are in the 4A category, which does not play conferences.

Regional seeds are released Monday.