Garaway's veteran coach Scott Bardall is the ultimate educator, turning every moment on the court into a learning experience for his players.

When the young Lady Pirates visited the Perry Reese Jr. Community Center for a date with the Hiland Lady Hawks  Wednesday, Dec. 23, they were schooled in the fine art of playing the low post by Hiland senior center Katelyn Stuckey.

Using her strength to assert herself wherever she needed to be, Stuckey was nearly flawless from the floor, sinking four of five field goal attempts.  She also canned eight of 10 trips to the foul line to pour in 16 points.  She grabbed five rebounds, including two on the offensive end, and defended the interior like another Berlin Wall.  Stuckey's play paved the way for a 61-40 victory for Hiland (6-0 overall, 6-0 in the IVC) which didn't come as easily as the final score might indicate.

"Tonight for the first time in the number of years I coached against Hiland, they utilized the post.  Stuckey did a really nice job finishing plays," Bardall said.  "She is strong and she's fundamental.  We were committed not to double down.  That doesn't mean that's how we'll play her the second time around.  We're a better team now than when we came in.  That's what you want every time you play."

"She is so sound fundamentally," praised Hiland coach Dave Schlabach.  "Our guards are all flash with Hil and Noelle, but Kate's the workhorse.  I'll really miss her next year.  Kate really played well.

"She's a lot like her cousin, Jill Yoder," the coach continued.  "She makes layups, and hits free throws. If your post player can do that, you'll win a lot.  I thought the kids did a nice job of finding her when she got rolling.  It's nice to get that inside-outside game going."

It was the inside play of Stuckey and the outside game of Noelle Yoder and McKenzie Miller that turned the game from the nip-and-tuck nail biter to another Hiland runaway.

Garaway's senior guard Kristen Troyer came out firing and the Lady Pirates led 8-4 and 10-6 late in the first quarter.

Miller scored on a stickback, and Yoder followed with a 3-pointer, and Hiland had things knotted up at 11.  Troyer scored her sixth point of the period to tie things up at 13 after one.

"Garaway (6-1, 5-1) hit those early shots, and we were OK with that," Schlabach said.  "We wanted up-tempo.  They hit some shots on the break against the press.  We'll give them some credit for that.  We weren't going to change anything.  That's the shot we wanted them to take."

Troyer put the Pirates ahead on a pair of free throws to open the second quarter, but a trio of scores by Yoder, along with two free throws from Stuckey had Hiland beginning to pull away.

Yoder and Troyer traded threes, and then Miller stroked triples on back-to-back possessions as Hiland opened up a 10-point lead at intermission.

"McKenzie did a nice job.  We need some other underclassmen to continue to show us some things," Schlabach said.  "I thought Noelle did a nice job one-on-one when we were struggling early.  It's kind of nice when you've got a kid who can create her own shot."

The Lady Hawks wanted to try and find a way to slow down Troyer in the second half, and they did, limiting her to three points in the final 16 minutes, after giving up 13 in the first half.

"We bellied her up too much in the first half.  She's too good..."  Schlabach said.  "When you play good people, you learn, and tonight was the first opportunity we've had to learn something about ourselves.  We figured out we couldn't guard her that tight.  We had to five her some space.  We allowed her to beat us off the dribble.  So, our kids got smarter in the second half."

It helped that Hiland had plenty of fresh legs to keep running at her on defense.

"They've got two kids going Division I and one going Division II, and it wasn't hard to identify who they were," Bardall said.  "Not many teams come at you with what they have.  They have a number of good players who can wear you down.  They are physically strong.  On the other hand, we did not lose our poise.  They're just good.  "I'm very proud, I thought we worked very, very hard."

Yoder and Stuckey did most of the damage on the offensive end in the third quarter, and a Yoder triple to close out the frame left Hiland on top 49-31 heading into the fourth quarter.

"They can punish you from the three, they can punish you off the dribble, and they did a lot of that," Bardall said.

"Other than Kate, we didn't score a lot in our halfcourt offense," Schlabach said.  "We scored a lot in transition and one-on-one type stuff.  Scott's teams are always the best defensive teams we'll see all year.  This was a solid win against a good team."

Yoder led Hiland with 25 points.  She hit three triples and was 6-for-6 from the foul line.  Jessica Stutzman and Miller each finished with eight points, and Weaver, who was limited by foul trouble, chipped in four points and seven assists.

Troyer's 16 paced the Pirates.  Sarah Bardall added seven and freshman post Anya Misko chipped in six, while getting schooled by Stuckey.

"Those three young post players (for Garaway) are going to be really, really good," Schlabach said of Misko, Bardall and Hallie Slemmer.