DeKalb County senior point guard Mya Ruch single-handedly outscored Smith County in the first half as the Lady Tigers ended the season in dominant fashion, crushing the Lady Owls 45-32 on the way to claiming the fourth seed in the upcoming district tourney thanks to some help by the Lionettes.

The win sets the table for the Lady Tiger postseason as they are scheduled to open the tournament in Watertown Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., facing the winner of Tuesday night’s clash between fifth-seeded Cannon County and eighth-seeded Smith County. Should the Lady Tigers win that game, then it will be on to Tennessee Tech where they will face the number-one team in the state, Macon County which finished the regular season at 23-1, including a crushing of the number two team in the state, Upperman, this past week, 45-32. However, regardless of that outcome, should they be able to take care of business Wednesday night, they will punch their ticket to regionals as the top four teams in the district move on. The Lady Tigers swept both Cannon and Smith this season. However, one of the games against Smith County took overtime while the Lady Tigers slipped by Cannon during their last meeting by one point.

It was Cannon County that cleared the way for DeKalb’s first round bye in the tourney as they beat Livingston Academy 56-48 in Woodbury as DeKalb was polishing off Smith County. The win gave Cannon a season sweep over Livingston, thereby giving them the fifth seed as they finished with 6-8 district records with the Lionettes owning the tie-breaker. DeKalb and Livingston had gone into the evening in a tie as they had split their season series. However, the DeKalb win and Livingston loss gave the Lady Tigers clear title to the fourth seed, ranking just behind York. Macon County, seeded first, and Upperman, seeded second, have double byes in the tourney.

DeKalb cemented their fourth place finish by going 7-7 in the district thanks to a blowout win over Smith County in which Mya Ruch had nine points in the first half while the Lady Owls could only must seven points throughout the first two quarters.

The game started sluggish with neither team about to do much at all through the first four minutes, allowing Smith to hold a short-lived lead. However, the Lady Tigers picked it up and led 9-6 after one and then went to the locker room with a commanding 22-7 advantage.

The good news for Smith was that they were able to double their output for the game in the third, scoring seven to post 14 on the board. The bad news was that the Lady Tigers were off to the races, taking a 37-14 into the fourth to make the final frame academic. Smith County finished the season without a district win and claimed last place.

The win came after the Lady Tigers were dominated by Macon County 67-33 as the state’s top team completed the season sweep. However, the Lady Tigers were able to hang with the big dogs in the first, trailing only by four. The second proved the difference as Macon went off, going up 39-20 by half. A three point third for DeKalb was all she wrote as Macon cruised to the win.

Ruch led the Lady Tigers with 12 while Kenzie France had six and Megan Walker had five.