Creek’s Nicole Jewell drives hard for the basket. Photo by Brandon Pope SWARTZ CREEK — While Lapeer West and Holly may be standing strong at the top of the Flint Metro League varsity girls’ basketball standings with a record of 12-2, at 7-7, Swartz Creek can still make a run at teams like Fenton and Linden, which have records of 9-6 and 8-6. The arch rivals currently occupy fourth and fifth place in the conference standings, respectively.

The first test to that end came by way of a visit from Lapeer East on Tuesday that doubled as the Lady Dragons’ final home game of the 2011-12 regular season. After losing the majority of last year’s team to graduation and injury, the Lady Eagles proved to be no match for Swartz Creek and wound up getting downed, 64-22.

Things couldn’t have been more different when the Lady Dragons took the short trip across Genesee County to face Big Nine rival Flushing last Wednesday in a non-conference contest that saw Swartz Creek fall behind early and often, before eventually getting dispatched, 51-25.

As of Feb. 11, Clio was third in the Metro at 11-3, Kearsley was seventh with three wins in 14 tries and Brandon is eighth at 2-13. That just leaves East to take up the final spot after losing all 14 of its league games so far.

Swartz Creek, 8-10 overall, is currently ranked 263rd in the state and 6,203rd nationally.

The Lady Dragons take the court at Fenton tomorrow before ending the regular season at Holly on Feb. 24.