Hiland was a little tired from its battle with Lutheran East two-days earlier but still had plenty in the tank to blow past Cuyahoga Heights.

Hiland senior Katelyn Stuckey had her best tournament game, and the Lady Hawks grabbed an early lead and never surrendered it, rolling to a 43-22 win over the Redskins in the Division IV regional championship and securing yet another state tournament bid.

Hiland - now 24-2 - is making its sixth appearance at the state tournament in seven years (2004, 05, 06, 08, 09, 10), and is vying for its fourth title in six tries (2005, 06, 08) and fifth overall - also winning in 2000.

Hiland will face Minster (18-7) in the Division IV state semifinal Friday at 1 p.m. at Ohio State's Value City Arena. The championship is set for Saturday at 5:15 p.m.

"This is unbelievable," said Lehigh University recruit Hilary Weaver. "To have the opportunity to go back down there... words can't even explain it. All the hard work that we put in is paying off."

Hiland seemingly had its fifth title tied-up a year ago until rival Columbus Africentric made a late push to knock-off the Lady Hawks.

Now this Lady Hawks team has some business to settle at the Capital City.

"We have some unfinished business to take care of," senior guard Jessica Stutzman said. "I'm just ready to finish things off."

The Lady Hawks’ thrilling 57-52 overtime win over Lutheran East in the Sweet 16 was physically and emotionally draining. In the first minutes of the first quarter, that was evident.

"We were tired," Hiland coach Dave Schlabach said. "We were physically and mentally spent. That really affected our offensive execution... that game the other night took a lot out of us."

Rather than looking for jumpers or 3-pointers, Hiland went straight to Stuckey in the paint, scoring six of her game-high 14 points in the first quarter and helping the Lady Hawks take a 14-2 lead.

"Kate was a beast," senior shooting guard Noelle Yoder said. "They had no answer for her."

"We knew that we had a post advantage and we tried to take advantage of that," Stuckey said. "... We work on post entry passes a lot at practice, and that paid off tonight."

Stuckey began the third quarter in the same fashion as she started the game, pounding the paint inside and often. The Ohio Dominican University recruit scored eight points in the frame, including a sweet drive off a Weaver feed to push Hiland ahead 13 (31-18) with 3:47 to go.

"It was nice to have a post game," Schlabach said of Stuckey. "Guards can get you there, but the post players have to win a game for somewhere down the road. Kate and Hannah [Stoneman] really played well tonight."

Yoder hit a 3-pointer, and Hiland made just 1 of 7 of its field goal attempts in the fourth quarter. Although, sitting with a comfy 20-point lead and limiting Cuyahoga Heights to just one field goal as well, the Lady Hawks didn't really need to score.

They needed to rest up.

Yoder said everything is clicking at the right time for this Lady Hawks team.

"We have been so motivated and I feel that now is our time," the Bowling Green recruit said. "We give all we have - every second we're on the floor."

Hiland shot 46 percent (17 of 37) from the floor and outrebounded Cuyahoga Heights 25-15.

Cuyahoga Heights was held to 26 percent (8 of 30) shooting and forced into 17 turnovers, including 11 in the first half, as the Redskins became acclimated to the Lady Hawks' press.

Heidi Mervar led Cuyahoga Heights (20-5) with 13 points, including six in the second to pull the Redskins to 22-12 at halftime.

Weaver had seven points and padded her all-time assist record with five dimes, and Yoder kicked in five points and five rebounds for Hiland, which is 0-1 in tournament play versus Minster.

Stoneman had six points.

"After 20 years as a coach, there really are a couple goals that I have each year," Schlabach said, "and that's to see my seniors play their last game in Columbus. And this has been a special group. They have sacrificed a lot. Finishing anywhere but Columbus would have been a big disappointment."