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Steamboat Springs — Heading into one of the biggest weekends of the season, Hayden High School boys basketball coach Robin Lighthizer said he's confident about how his team is playing.

Hayden (5-5 overall, 2-1 in league play) plays at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Paonia, then returns home for a 5:30 p.m. Saturday game against Plateau Valley. Lighthizer said the Tigers are playing with the right blend of an inside and outside attack.

"I think we'll be ready," said Lighthizer, whose team picked up a 72-37 win against North Park on Friday. "The kids are looking real good. As good as they have."

Although Lighthizer said he doesn't know a lot about the Tigers' two opponents, he said getting off to a fast start Friday is imperative.

"Right now, this weekend's going to be a big part as far as where we're seeded," Lighthizer said. "This weekend's going to boil down whether we play at home in the first round of the playoffs or are we going somewhere else. I'd just as soon play at home."

On the girls' side, Hayden coach Stephanie Davis' team is coming off a 69-53 loss to North Park on Friday and now faces what Davis considers the top two teams in Class 2A of the Western Slope League, Paonia and Plateau Valley.

The Hayden girls play at 5 p.m. Friday and 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Davis said although the focal point will be picking up much-needed wins, she's also working on getting the Tigers to maintain intensity, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

"It's playing better defense in the transition game," Davis said. "This is very important that we're able to do that this weekend. We need to increase our intensity on defense, period. Both full-court and half-court."

Although the prolonged Christmas break and recent weather haven't helped the team, Davis said with such a young squad, overcoming adversity is part of the learning process.

"It's important for our young athletes to recover from mistakes and not let past results get into our head and stay there," Davis said.