In Monday's finale of the Classic in the Country, the Hawks found out how the other half lives.

The Hawks broke to a 23-18 halftime lead against Twinsburg, but fell behind early in the second half and never regained momentum. The Tigers outscored the Hawks 37-19 in the final 16 minutes on tired legs of their own and went home with a 55-42 win over the state's top-ranked Div. IV team.

"I was pleased with the way we played in the first half," Hiland coach Dave Schlabach said. "We were aggressive, executed well and got them in foul trouble early. I told the kids after the game that this is probably the most mentally weak team I've coached in a long time. What happened here was we had two teams playing tired and Twinsburg was just more motivated than we were. They played with a purpose we didn't have. We played a good first half. But, we're too mentally weak to do that for 32 minutes right now."

One of the things basketball techies will point to as Hiland's demise Monday was the way the Tigers (10-3) got the ball to the block in the second half. For a half, Hiland (10-1) pressured the Tiger guards and made post entry passes hard. In the second half, Twinsburg got the ball to the block regularly and let 6-foot-4 freshman Malina Howard take over.

The post moves weren't dazzling, in part because they didn't have to be. Working against 5-foot-11 junior Katelyn Stuckey and 6-foot freshman Missy Mast, Howard was able to catch and shoot over them. Howard finished the night with 17 points and 11 rebounds through no fault of Hiland post players who couldn't make themselves four inches taller.

"The halftime break was nice for us," Twinsburg coach Mike Kelley said. "We were able to get a break and settle down. We also got the chance to remind our guards that we do have 6-4 down there and she can shoot over 5-11."

The second half runaway for Twinsburg had as much to do with work at the defensive end as it did the patience to look to the post.

Hiland repeatedly beat Tiger defenders backdoor for easy scores in the first half, an efficiency that was at the heart of the lead the Hawks carried to the break. After that rest, the Tigers did two things at the defensive end that changed the game for good. They played the backdoor cuts that are the heart of Hiland's Princeton offense better and did all they could to keep point guards Hilary Weaver and Noelle Yoder from being the primary ballhandlers, instead preferring Stuckey to get the ball past half court and hand the ball to one of the point guards.

In the second half, the handoffs were nearly impossible and the backdoors were non-existent. That took the flow out of Hiland's offense and changed the game for good.

"The thing that really bothered us was the pressure," Schlabach said. "They disrupted our offense all night. They got to the point where we couldn't even hand the ball off. They just wore us down."

Now, Hiland heads to the final nine games of the season in search of the things that were missing Monday night. Mainly, a little more intestinal fortitude and offensive execution. But, there are nine games left and there will be no more opponents like Twinsburg left.

"They completely took us out of our offense," Schlabach said. "We got to the point where every possession was a mystery. I must have said backdoor 1,050 times and we just stood there. Then in the second half, we just stood there and let them throw it around until they could get it inside."

Hiland got 13 points from Karli Mast and seven from Yoder.