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The girls' basketball regular season has passed its midpoint, and all six teams in the Wamac Conference East Division reside on the plus side of .500.
"That's hard to believe," said Jamie Smith, who coached Solon to the Class 3A state championship last season. "From top to bottom, it is one of the most competitive leagues in the state, and the records prove it."
Led by 3A top-ranked Mount Vernon (12-1 overall, 3-0 division), the six Wamac East teams have a combined non-division record of 39-17 (.696).
"Look at who Mount Vernon has played, who Marion has played, Center Point-Urbana, us ... ," Smith said. "I haven't been here forever, and I know everybody has their ups and downs, but this is definitely a (collective) up."
Let's start at the bottom, though in this case, "bottom" is relative.
Somebody has to be sixth in an a six-team league, and that's where Independence (7-6, 0-3) sits today. However, if the Mustangs resided in the Wamac West, they would be the third-best team there.
Top scorer Libby Pruess (13.1 ppg) is a freshman. Indee's seven wins are its most in a season since 2015-16.
As Solon's 51-50 victory over Marion on Tuesday would indicate, the middle four teams -- Center Point-Urbana (7-5, 2-1), Marion (7-5, 2-1), West Delaware (8-4, 1-2) and Solon (7-5, 1-2) -- are virtually dead-even.
According to the BC Moore computer Thursday, CPU is No. 6 in 3A with Solon and West Delaware at 12 and 14. Marion is 16th in 4A.
"I'm really happy where we're at," Smith said. "We're 4-1 since the (holiday) break. (Tuesday) was a big growing night, and Kobi (Lietz) and Delainey (Durr) have done a good job with the young kids, letting them know what our program is about."
Marion's Madeline Pavelka posted 20 points and 20 rebounds Tuesday. Meanwhile, West Delaware's Brooke Krogmann averages 18.7 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.4 blocks per game.
That leaves Mount Vernon, the undisputed front-runner.
The Mustangs were 3A state semifinalists last season, have shifted to an aggressive man-to-man defense and have added freshman Savanna Wright, one of four scorers averaging in double figures.
"I'm getting close to 400 games that I've coached," Smith said, "and that's the best starting five I've ever coached against. They've got everything you need. To me, they're just different level."
The odyssey continues Friday: Independence is at Mount Vernon, Marion goes to CPU and Solon travels to West Delaware.
When Iowa City Regina hosts Cascade on Saturday, Coach Mary Rogers stands on the brink of a milestone.
In her sixth season as a head coach, Rogers owns a 99-32 record.