By BRIAN ROSENER ~ DAR Sports Editor

Poplar Bluff heads into the postseason on a roll, winners of their last 13 games, and as the top seed in the MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 tournament in Jackson.

But to get a shot at their first title since 2005, the Lady Mules must not overlook Cape Central.

"I said starting the year that I felt like Cape would be a team that could be awfully tough in our conference and in our district (and) I still think they can," Lady Mules coach Kirk Chronister said. "We for sure can't look past them."

The Lady Tigers (13-12) beat Fox 49-46 Monday night to advance to a semifinal rematch with Poplar Bluff (20-5). The teams will meet for the 72nd time at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Jackson.

Seckman (15-10) will face second-seeded Jackson (12-10) at 7:30 Wednesday night.

The championship is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.

Before the tournament started Monday, Central coach Sherri Shirrell told the Southeast Missourian she thinks her teams has a real shot at winning the district.

"Our kids have been working hard, getting ready for that," she said. "I think our biggest thing right now is staying focused. The ice storm didn't help us any because I think we lost focus. ... Right now our thing is to just get refocused and play together as a team."

Poplar Bluff won the only meeting between the two teams, 57-27, Jan. 3 at Central. In that game, however, the Lady Tigers were missing center Wendi Zickfield and guard Tierra Walker. Zickfield led Central with 14 points Monday night while point guard Sadie Pittman added 10.

Last season, Zickfield scored 18 points, had 14 rebounds and two blocks in a 46-41 win against Poplar Bluff.

"That will be a challenge for us, keeping the ball out of her hands," Chronister said.

Poplar Bluff's defensive pressure forced 23 turnovers in the last meeting and the Lady Mules are averaging nearly 10 steals per game this season while holding opponents to 42.2 points per game. Central was one of five teams Poplar Bluff held under 30 points this winter.

During their winning streak, the Lady Mules have allowed 36.2 points per game and averaged 60.3 points of offense.

"I felt like we'd be strong defensive, but I think our offense has really come around," Chronister said. "I think we have very balanced scoring, we can score against people that want to try and press us, want to play man, want to play zone.

"I think that's a big key to the success we've had here, they're not one-dimensional."

Aereill Davis leads the team in scoring with 12.6 points per game but the Lady Mules have had six different players lead them in games this season. Jasmin Sumrall is averaging 9.0 while Ruthie Johnson (6.8 points), Natalie Stonecipher (6.6), Stefanie Ferguson (5.9) and Tori Williams (5.1) are also scoring threats.

Central, meanwhile, will need a more balanced scoring attack, Shirrell told the Missourian.

"Our guard play needs to step up," she said. "We need to get some scoring out of someone else besides [Zickfield] and Sadie [Pittman] every night for us to be a better team."

Chelsea Pannier added nine points and Sara Uptmor added eight Monday night as the Lady Tigers held off Fox.