And the race is on

It's been a long time since I've actually covered a conference race. Since Strong has returned from the stratosphere back to earth, the 2A 7-East girls basketball conference is once again, a race.
This week is huge as league-leading Bearden, which has one conference loss, travels to Parkers Chapel. The Lady Trojans, the only league team to beat the Lady Bears, have three league losses.
Strong, which sits in second place with two losses, takes on Norphlet Friday. The Lady Leopards have four losses but own the tiebreaker over Parkers Chapel based on their season sweep.
With a Parkers Chapel loss and a win at Norphlet, the Lady Bulldogs would pretty much assure themselves of second place and would play at Bearden for a share of the league title.
With a Parkers Chapel win, the Lady Trojans could declare themselves back in the hunt. Norphlet, meanwhile, has a daunting task this week with four games in five days.
As much as I enjoyed following a dominant team like Strong the past two years, there's something exciting about a conference race. It's fun going to the gym, not knowing which team is going to win.
I would give some predictions but I'm chicken. Strong is playing as well as anybody in the conference and I do believe the Lady Trojans will play well on Friday.
It should be a fun evening.