The kings and queens are back.

After winning their respective Five Star Conference tournaments last year, Mainland’s boys team and Spruce Creek’s girls squad will enter the 2024 events as No. 1 seeds. The battles for Volusia-Flagler supremacy tip off with the quarterfinals Saturday.

The semifinals will follow Wednesday, and the championships will be claimed next Friday.

University will host the first two rounds of the boys tournament. Atlantic will put on the entire girls bracket, along with the boys finals.

Seeding stems from last week’s FHSAA rankings.

Here is a glimpse at each first-round matchup:

Boys quarterfinals

No. 3 New Smyrna Beach (13-4) vs. No. 6 DeLand (5-8), 10 a.m.

New Smyrna Beach started this season hotter than any team in the area. The Barracudas kicked off with eight wins in a row, including three victories over teams in this tournament (Deltona, Flagler Palm Coast and Spruce Creek). They’ve played two of those teams again in the last seven days, losing to the Hawks but handling Deltona. Senior Lukas Parschauer averages a double-double with 14.5 points and 11.8 rebounds to sit atop the team leaderboards. Fellow senior Peter Phan puts up 11 points per game.

Following losses in six of its first eight games, DeLand is trending in the right direction. The Bulldogs won three of five after that. Among their three opponents also in the Five Star tournament: They scored a victory over Spruce Creek, with early losses to Atlantic and Deltona. DeLand doesn’t roster any players reaching eight points a night, but it has three players scoring between 7.2 and 7.9, and they’re all young (sophomores Beegie Gordon, Danielito Rodriguez and Jahvari Campbell).

No. 4 Flagler Palm Coast (8-10) vs. No. 5 Atlantic (10-7), 11:30 a.m.

Flagler Palm Coast is searching for consistency. It hasn’t won or lost more than two games in a row this season. When the Bulldogs have been at their best, they’ve tackled Five Star tournaments squads like Pine Ridge and first-round opponent Atlantic. They challenged New Smyrna Beach but suffered a five-point defeat in December. Senior guard Jameer Clark directs the show and can drop points in bunches (17 a game).

The Sharks took some time to adjust under first-year coach Travis Norfolk. Norfolk attributed their 2-4 start to a lack of buy-in and shot-making. Then, something clicked. Since Dec. 13, Atlantic has claimed eight of 11 and rides a season-best, three-game win streak into the Five Star. It has played five clubs in the bracket. The Sharks knocked off New Smyrna Beach and DeLand but fell to Pine Ridge, Deltona (twice) and the Bulldogs. Senior Keenan Plummer holds down the paint while they deploy a litany of guards (sophomore Cris De La Pena, junior Trenton Miller, junior Jah’meen Rolle and senior Dylan Remsburg).

No. 1 Mainland (13-4) vs. No. 8 Pine Ridge (6-10), 1 p.m.

The reigning Five Star champs, who ran to the 5A state finals last winter, are just as strong this year. Mainland’s core of sophomore Nathan Kirk and seniors Narayan Thomas and DeAndre Newland remains the same. Those three, plus freshman Kade Manley, each average at least 10 points per game, led by Kirk’s 15.4. The Bucs have only played one local game — an 81-51 win over Spruce Creek. They pose atop the local standings as the only Volusia-Flagler program in the state’s top 100, where they slot 41st.

Pine Ridge ended a four-game skid — that involved one-possession, overtime losses to Father Lopez and Deltona — with a domination of Crescent City Wednesday. The Panthers have played four Five Star tournament teams. They notched a season-opening victory over Atlantic, though they’ve gone winless against Deltona (twice), Spruce Creek and Flagler Palm Coast since. Led by senior Elijah Laird and his 16.5 points per game, Pine Ridge can score with the best of them when it gets hot. It has recorded at least 67 points in six straight games. Sophomore Jyles Newman adds 12.7 points per contest.

No. 2 Deltona (14-5) vs. No. 7 Spruce Creek (7-12), 2:30 p.m.

The Wolves are second among local hoopers in the FHSAA rankings, peering in from just outside the top 100 (101st). They did hit a setback against third-seeded New Smyrna Beach for the second time this year in their last pre-tourney tuneup. But before that, they rattled off nine straight wins. Deltona has competed with a lot of local programs this season. That includes two wins apiece over Atlantic and Pine Ridge and a single victory over DeLand. The Wolves split two meetings with the Hawks, their quarterfinals matchup.

Maybe the youngest team in the area, Spruce Creek has won three in a row since last Saturday. The stretch began with a double-digit win over New Smyrna Beach, bringing the Hawks’ total against the Barracudas to 1-1 this winter. They also split with the Wolves while counting a win against Pine Ridge and losses to DeLand and Mainland among the clubs in the bracket. Spruce Creek doesn’t have any seniors, so it has experienced growing pains. But its roster, comprised mostly of freshmen and sophomores, has flashed its potential lately.

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Girls quarterfinals

No. 1 Spruce Creek (12-6) vs. No. 8 Pine Ridge (4-10), 10 a.m.

The Hawks have taken on only one local opponent this season. They edged New Smyrna Beach by two points in early December. Outside of the area, they challenged themselves, per usual under coach Kelvin Hamm. Spruce Creek’s FHSAA strength of schedule rating names its calendar as the 22nd-most difficult in the state so far. With a 12-6 record, they’ve dealt with it well. Senior Yanija Lawson and sophomore Kailani Merrell each drop 13 points per game at the front of this squad. Freshman Lillian Sanchez averages 10 points a contest.

Pine Ridge has gone 2-2 since snapping a five-game drought by crushing University last week. One of its two recent losses came against New Smyrna Beach, the tournament's fifth seed. The Panthers’ only other matchup against an opponent in the Five Star tournament happened on Nov. 27. They dropped to DeLand in their season opener. Senior Kay Roman and junior Brooke Murray’s scoring averages are separated by 0.1 points per game. Roman paces the team with 9.6 while Murray gives 9.5. Sophomore Serenity Cressor’s 10.9 boards per night make her one of the area’s top rebounders.

No. 3 Deltona (10-3) vs. No. 6 Flagler Palm Coast (7-9), 11:30 a.m.

Make it nine wins in a row for Deltona. The Wolves opened the year 1-3 but haven’t lost since November. Their current placement in the state rankings: 105th. Deltona has sprinted to five consecutive victories by 17 or more points. The last time they played a close game was a 49-48 thriller against New Smyrna Beach on Dec. 12. Two nights later, the Wolves squashed first-round Five Star opponent Flagler Palm Coast. They rely on senior Calise Chisholm and freshman Iniya Reddicks, who average 14.5 and 14.4 points per game, respectively.

Flagler Palm Coast is 6-3 in its last nine games under first-year head coach George Butts. The Bulldogs trudged through an early gauntlet of Orange Park, Forest, Dunnellon, Deltona and Nease — all teams with .500-plus records — which resulted in a five-game dry spell. Since then, they’ve claimed grinders (29-20 over Harmony), barnburners (70-42 over Boca Ciega) and a few games in between. Flagler Palm Coast took down Atlantic last week in its lone meeting with another Five Star tournament team this season.

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No. 2 Mainland (6-11) vs. No. 7 Atlantic (6-7), 1 p.m.

The record may not look pretty for the defending 5A state champs. But don’t let that be deceiving — Mainland is still dangerous. Despite being 6-11, the Bucs rank 31st in the state. The FHSAA’s strength of schedule rating lists their slate as the second-toughest in all of Florida. Mainland hasn’t squared off with a single local school. The majority of the Bucs’ roster resembles last year’s squad. Seniors Anovia Sheals and Tia Dobson lead the way with junior Spruce Creek transfer Olivia Olson adding a new dimension and replacing the production of the graduated Jordan Boddie in the Big Three.

Atlantic is still looking for its first win against the teams in the Five Star tournament this year. Currently, it’s 0-3 with two losses to DeLand and one to Flagler Palm Coast. The Sharks have breezed by other local competitors, though. Wins against Seabreeze, Father Lopez, University and Halifax adorn their record. Senior Aurielle Reavis holds one of the best scoring averages in the area (16 points per game) while sophomore Madelyn Johnson serves as a quality No. 2 with 10 points a night.

No. 4 DeLand (12-3) vs. No. 5 New Smyrna Beach (9-5), 2:30 p.m.

The Bulldogs are enjoying quite the turnaround, already stacking up 12 wins after claiming just one all of last winter. They gained three of those victories against Five Star tournament foes. They rolled Pine Ridge and Atlantic to kick off the campaign and beat Atlantic again in mid-December. New Smyrna Beach represents their largest local test to date, though. DeLand has won four of its last five. Led by freshman Mimi Ross, it features four players (sophomores Frantashia Williams and Jada Rawls and senior Rakayla Hill) who can go for 10-plus points any time they step on the floor.

Despite being the fifth seed in the Five Star, the Barracudas have challenged some of the area’s top programs during Aisha Patrick’s first year in charge. On Dec. 4, they finished two points short of upsetting Spruce Creek 45-43. On Dec. 12, their margin of defeat was even less, 49-48, against Deltona. New Smyrna Beach was the road team in both games. The defeats haven’t defined its season, though. The Barracudas arrive at Atlantic on a four-game positive streak, which includes a rout of tournament squad Pine Ridge last week. Four players — senior Paris Thompson, junior Corrin Austell, sophomore Sariah Ammons and senior Hailee Mokwe — score 8.6 points or more per game.

Semifinals

Boys

• Winner of Mainland/Pine Ridge vs. winner of Flagler Palm Coast/Atlantic

• Winner of Deltona/Spruce Creek vs. winner of New Smyrna Beach/DeLand

(Games will take place at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday. Order not yet official.)

Girls

• Winner of Spruce Creek/Pine Ridge vs. winner of DeLand/New Smyrna Beach

• Winner of Mainland/Atlantic vs. winner of Deltona/Flagler Palm Coast

(Games will take place at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.)

Finals

• Girls: 6 p.m.

• Boys: 7:30 p.m.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: High school basketball: Five Star Conference tournaments preview