By Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Mary Crompton and Tatum Koenig learned to play basketball together.

Crompton and Koenig attended basketball camps together, were teammates on youth league teams and played AAU basketball together.

They have enjoyed stellar prep careers apart.

Crompton is the leading scorer for undefeated and top-ranked Regina while Koenig is the top scorer and rebounder for West Branch.

Both players have established themselves as college prospects and rank among the best junior guards in the state.

Last week, playing in different gyms against different opponents Koenig and Crompton made history – together.

Crompton and Koenig each reached the 1,000-point mark for their careers last Tuesday becoming the first juniors in their respective programs to reach the mark.

Two friends, from two conference rivals separated by less than 10 miles, achieve a major milestone on the same night.

 “I just thought that was really cool because I’ve known her for a very long time,” Koenig said. “Before AAU we played together in a North Dodge league so we have been good friends for a long time so I was really happy for her. It’s an awesome achievement.”

Crompton cracked the 1,000-point barrier in a 14-point performance against West Liberty on Tuesday.

About 60 miles away her former teammate was busy collecting her own milestone.

Koenig scored a season-high 28 points against Fairfield to reach 1,000 for her career.

A day after the game she got a text from her old teammate and fellow 1,000-point scorer.  

“I thought it was really funny just because I am close with her and we are in the same conference so I texted her the day after and said ‘congratulations’ and she wrote back ‘you too’,” Crompton said. “It was special that we got it on the same night.”

Special and impressive.

Crompton became the sixth player in Regina history to score 1,000 points and the first to do it as a junior.

She joins Ali Browning, Jenna Lehman, Nikki Fleck, Kelsey Homewood and Zoey Dutchik as Regina players to reach 1,000 points.

The 5-foot-8 guard leads Regina (18-0) in scoring this season at 18.8 points per game and now has 1,029 points in her career.

Crompton is 321 points away from matching Browning for the most in program history.

“That makes me happy because in the past I have watched girls who have scored 1,000 points coming from Regina and I know that they are super talented girls,” Crompton said. “It feels like a big accomplishment for me to be associated with that group of girls.”

Koenig is just the third West Branch player to reach the 1,000-point mark, joining Kate Tuttle and Kelly Trimble.

The 5-foot-6 Koenig is in the midst of a breakthrough season, averaging a team-high 20.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

Koenig has scored 18 or more points in four straight games to push her career total to 1,037.

She is 30 points away from passing Trimble for second place at West Branch and needs 150 points to surpass Tuttle as the Bear’s all-time leading scorer.

“I just feel very honored,” Koenig said. “My teammates, my coaches have helped me along the way. I love this town and I love playing so it was great that I was able to do that for our school.”

Trible-Double Watch: The first double-double of the season for Clear Creek Amana senior Claire Navara was one assist shy of a triple-double.

Navara had 11 points, 10 steals and nine assists in a 56-18 win over Vinton-Shellsburg on Tuesday.

Still Unbeaten: The list of unbeaten teams in the state is down to single digits with only nine teams remaining without a loss.

City High was dropped from the ranks of the unbeaten with its loss to West High on Tuesday leaving Regina (19-0) as the lone area unbeaten team.

Four of the nine unbeaten teams are in 2A with North Linn (20-0), Central Decatur (17-0) and Treynor (17-0) joining Regina as undefeated 2A teams.

Ratings update: City High and West High were part of a Class 5A top-five shakeup in the rankings released by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union on Thursday.

The lone remaining unbeaten team in 5A, Indianola remained atop the rankings but there was plenty of movement behind them.

West Des Moines Valley climbed four spots to second, West High remained third and City High dropped to fifth.

Regina remained No. 1 in Class 2A as the top five teams went unchanged.

Other top-ranked teams include Marion (4A), Sioux Center (3A), Springville (1A).

Top performances: West High sophomore Cailyn Morgan had 15 points, five rebounds and three steals in a 63-58 win over City High.

City High freshman Aubrey Joens had 20 points in a 70-46 win over Dubuque Hempstead.

Solon senior Alli Prybil had 13 points, three rebounds and two steals in a 40-37 win over Anamosa.

West Branch junior Tatum Koenig had 18 points, eight rebounds and seven steals in a 50-38 win over North Cedar.

West High junior Logan Cook had 25 points, four rebounds and three blocks in a 75-66 loss to Cedar Falls.