By Bobby Allen

SDN Sports Editor

MERKEL -- All the excitement on the court came last Friday after the Lady Tigers hoisted the district trophy in Snyder, so Tuesday’s finale against Merkel was a bit anticlimactic.

However, the team had one more piece of business to attend to before turning their focus to the postseason.

The Lady Tigers (27-2, 10-0) completed their spectacular regular season with their 25th straight victory, dusting off last-place Merkel, 48-25.

Snyder found itself locked in a scrum with the tenacious Lady Badgers (4-25, 1-9) in the second quarter, as Merkel matched Snyder basket-for-basket, before the Lady Tigers used their most obvious strength to slam the door.

Teddi Crenwelge hit for 12 points, most in the first half as the Lady Badgers left her alone to concentrate on Erin Burleson. Crenwelge also led team with six rebounds.

“They ran a chaser on Erin and did a good job,” head coach Mike Martin said. “Teddi did a good job in the first half. They left her alone and she hurt them.”

Snyder held Merkel to eight points in the second half -- two in the third quarter -- to finish the district schedule with an unblemished mark.

“In the second half, our defense picked up,” Martin said, adding that the team was happy to not stumble in what had all the makings of a trap game.

“We’re glad to get it behind us -- a team like Merkel is always dangerous,” he said.

Terann Ragland led all scorers with 14 points, grabbing four rebounds in the process and setting the defensive tempo in the second half.

Jordan Stansell had eight points and four boards, Sirena Medrano canned seven and collected three offensive rebounds, while Burleson hit for four and pulled in five boards.

Sarah Henson nailed a field goal and pulled down four rebounds.

And so the curtain rises on a new season.

“Now we start over,” said Martin.

Much of the post-game excitement centered on possible playoff scenarios, with the results of Tuesday’s games in Districts 1 and 2 still unknown.

Snyder will play the area round after earning a bye in the bi-district round. Scheduled dates for area round games are Feb. 19-21.

Now that the dust has cleared, the Lady Tigers can set their sights on the winner of Perryton and Littlefield -- the team that gave Snyder its first loss in the season debut.

Perryton ended up in third in District 1 after second-place Tulia routed Borger Tuesday, while Littlefield was the runner-up in District 2.

The teams will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at West Texas A&M in Canyon.

And while their coach has a wealth of playoff experience, the same cannot be said of the Lady Tigers, none of whom have ever played on the postseason hardwood.

“We’ll approach it as the next game, and prepare like we did in district,” Martin said. “We have 10 days to find out what kind of plan we can come up with to give us the opportunity to win.”

In the JV game, Merkel handled the junior Tigers, 46-31.