Every year, teams are picked, personalities collide and cliques can develop. Coaches and captains are handed a task to meld student-athletes together and form one cohesive unit, regardless of age, background or style of play.

Simley's girls' basketball team has faced a test like none other in that department -- and the Spartans have aced it.

Coach Tim Peper regularly rolls out a seventh-grader, an eighth-grader, two sophomores, two juniors and a senior. With girls spanning a six-year age difference, some observers might foresee problems.

As an upperclassman, junior guard Alexis Boyd-Lockett immediately dismissed that thought. The youngsters mix well with the oldies and the in-betweens.

"We depend on them to do well," Boyd-Lockett said of the middle-schoolers. "We don't look at them as underclassmen or anything. We treat them just like anybody else."

Camaraderie and chemistry often are found in groups of student-athletes who grew up playing together, who've developed strong bonds and a sense of where their teammates are at all times.

The reality is, there are no clusters at any single grade for the Spartans.

"Maybe the reason we've been able to pull it off is because we can't have that clique, because we're so spread out among all the grade levels," said Peper, who is in his sixth year as Simley's coach.

The youngsters aren't only playing, they're excelling. Eighth-grader Abby Kain leads the team in scoring. Seventh-grader Aejah Lockett has come off the bench and led the Spartans in scoring in a handful of games. There aren't too many varsity teams -- in any sport, at any level -- that have big contributions from players so young.

Case in point: Simley beat Class 4A Tartan 66-58, with Kain scoring 30 points and Aejah Lockett adding 11.

"The joke that I had for my wife when I got home was that Inver Grove Heights Middle School scored 41 points tonight against Tartan," Peper said. "That doesn't happen too much."

And that hasn't created bloated egos or jealousy. Of course, winning makes getting along much easier -- and Simley is doing plenty of that, owning a 16-3 record entering Friday's play. The Spartans' biggest victory was a 59-56 triumph over then-fifth-ranked Hill-Murray, runner-up at the Class 3A state tournament the past two years.

"That boosted our confidence really high," said Boyd-Lockett, who scored a team-high 18 points against the Pioneers.

The Spartans boast an assortment of scorers and athletic abilities, making them a well-rounded team.

Kain and sophomore forward Kylie Brown give Simley two big, strong post players who can score. Brown might not be as noticeable on the score sheet -- she averages around eight points per game -- but she blocked 10 shots and grabbed 17 rebounds against Henry Sibley while playing stout defense.

"She's a true, legit Division I center," Peper said. "Kylie is a freak. She can grab the rim. She's the only girl I've ever coached that can get up and grab the rim."

Sophomore Maya DeLao and senior Shauna Horsch round out the balanced squad.

So far, Peper is pleased but not satisfied.

"I couldn't have imagined being any better than that at this point in the season," he said. "But obviously we have a lot of work to do so when we reach the playoffs we can be peaking."