Hiland girls achieve perfection

By ZACH BOLINGER
Daily Record Sports Writer

COLUMBUS - What could possibly be better than perfection?

For coach Dave Schlabach and his Hiland girls basketball team, the only thing that tops perfection is the fact that the excellence was accompanied by a sparkling-gold championship trophy.

Hiland answered all comers this season, including Ottoville Saturday afternoon in the Div. IV state championship game at St. John Arena. The Hawks capped the only perfect season in the state of Ohio this winter, using the overtime period to distance themselves from the determined Big Green, 55-47. It came in a classic game, one that featured nine ties and 17 lead changes.

"This is what it's all about. This was what we set our sights on the minute we lost here last season," said Schlabach, referring to his team's state semifinal loss to Minster a year ago. "Our girls have put in the time and earned the right to call themselves state champions."

Hiland, which became the 12th small school to finish an undefeated season, matched the school's 1999-2000 team at 28-0. The state championship was the girls second is school history, measuring up and equaling the 2000 squad.

"I would never want to compare them," Schlabach said. "Every group is its own, and then creates its own identity and place in history. We've talked a lot about the 2000 state championship team, but like I told these girls in the locker room, they'll be talking about somebody different now.”

Any conversation will have to include Lindsay Stuckey.

The junior forward scored 13 of her 18 points in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter and the four-minute overtime. Her left-wing 3-pointer with 3:18 remaining pulled Hiland even at 41, just 14 seconds after Ottoville's Erica Vorst pushed her team out in front with a long ball.

Stuckey's driving left-handed layup with 45 seconds left in regulation knotted the game again, this time at 45 and ultimately sending the game to the extra session. Neither team could get a shot off in the remaining time.

Once to the extra period, Stuckey had a spinning left-handed hoop in traffic and a powerful half-hook hoop in the paint. Those gave Hiland a 49-47 advantage with 1:33 left and set the stage for Lydia Miller.

Jen Burgei took an ill-advised shot on the baseline for Ottoville, and Jena Stutzman tipped the rebound out of traffic to herself. She weaved her way up court and found a wide-open Miller on the left wing. Miller, a sophomore who hadn't hit a shot from the field all game, unloaded without hesitation - connecting on a 3 to give her Hawks a 52-47 lead with 1:09 left and basically seal the deal.

"Actually, coach was in the background yelling pull it out, pull it out, but I didn't think about it," Miller said. "I was open, so I thought I might as well take it. It went in, so I guess it all worked out.

"They did put up a good fight, but in the fourth quarter and overtime, we were calm. It was like we knew we had it under control. There was never a doubt in our mind."

Stuckey, who sat 20 minutes of the semifinal win Thursday with foul trouble, played only six minutes in the first half Saturday with another two whistles blown against her. When crunch time came, there was no doubt what she had in store, though.

"We were not going to lose this game. That was my attitude. That was what was going through my mind," Stuckey said. "I was frustrated by not playing. I was just ready to go. I was ready to do something.

"Pressure? It doesn't bother me too much," said Stuckey, who added five rebounds and three steals. "Actually, I get pumped up about being able to step up in situations like that. We went to several different people, but I was confident and things were falling for me. It all worked out in the end."

Stuckey may have powered Hiland at the end, but senior point guard and first-team All-Ohioan Launa Hochstetler kick-started the Hawks throughout.

Hiland was in a bit of a danger zone early in the third quarter, down three to an Ottoville team that was gaining confidence. Hochstetler went to the forefront and made sure her team didn't lose its grasp.

In just under three minutes, she scored eight straight Hiland points. The personal run, which featured two acrobatic driving hoops and a step-back jumper, countered two made 3-pointers from the Big Green and helped Launa finish with 16 points, three assists and three rebounds.

"We just set up the screen-and-roll to see what their big girl was going to do," Hochstetler said. "If she stayed low, I would shoot it. If she stepped out, I would try and go past. I just wanted to get us into a little more of an offensive rhythm by knocking some shots down. It went pretty good.

"I wish we could've came out here and shown everyone how good we can shoot, but we concentrate on defense," Hochstetler added. "I would rather win a game than shoot 100 percent from 3."

In the first half, Ottoville's 5-foot-11 Stacey Wannemacher had 10 points and three rebounds. Hiland limited Wannemacher's (12 points, five rebounds) touches in the second half and overtime, and while the Big Green had other players pick up the slack, the defensive pressure was too much.

Ottoville finished with a season-high 26 turnovers and three of those were pivotal in overtime.

"We just didn't get enough offense sets going. They put tremendous pressure on our guards," Ottoville senior and coach's daughter Megan Kleman said. "We handled it at times, but 26 turnovers sure puts a damper on your plan. ... We knew what we had to do, but the turnovers at the end of the game really, really hurt us."

Outside of Stuckey, Hiland picked up six points and a game-high 10 rebounds from 6-1 junior Rachel Thomas. Miller had six rebounds and three steals. Hiland was 20-of-56 from the floor, and despite being undersized, outrebounded the Big Green 34-29.

Kleman finished with 12 points and eight rebounds for Ottoville, while Amy Honigford had 11 points and six boards. The Big Green took 20 less shots (15-of-36) than Hiland.

"Their stars played well and our stars played well. They pretty much counteracted each other," Ottoville coach Dave Kleman said. "It was a game of big rebounds, big passes and big shots. They just had 10 more possessions than we did, and you have to shoot an exceptionally high percentage to overcome that."

Courtesy The Daily Record, Wooster, Ohio.