In the dying seconds, Hiland's Katelyn Stuckey typically defers to Noelle Yoder or Hilary Weaver for a big bucket.

But in last Friday's Division IV state semifinal against Minster, they deferred to her.

Katelyn Stuckey hit the go-ahead bucket with 18 seconds to go, and No. 2 Hiland rallied from a seven point deficit late in the fourth quarter to beat Minster 48-47 in the Final Four at Ohio State's Jerome Schottenstein Center.

Down 48-47 with 18 seconds left, Stuckey got an inside feed from Yoder, bobbling the ball before laying in the winning basket.

"It was just another layup," Stuckey said with a coy smile.

Hiland - which lost to Minster in the 2004 state semifinals - bettered its record to 25-2 and advanced to the state championship to face No. 3 Canal Winchester Harvest Prep (26-1), which rallied from 18 down to beat Fort Loramie.

"We knew this would be a battle," Hiland coach Dave Schlabach said. "... We knew it would be kind of like our regional semifinal game [against Lutheran East], where something special would have to happen at the end.

Not a lot of coaching during the end, just our kids making plays."

Minster coach Nann Stechschulte said the game boiled down to turnovers and free throws.

"Our girls made some great plays, his girls made some great plays, but we had 15 turnovers and they had eight," the 21-year Wildcats coach said. "They were 11 of 13 from the line and we were 9 of 16. It reminds me of a quote I told the girls, ‘Free throws don't win all the games, just the close ones.'"

Stuckey had four points, including the game-winner, and Noelle Yoder put back a McKenzie Miller miss to fuel an 8-0 run in the final 2:41 that catapulted Hiland into the state championship game.

Stuckey - a 5-foot-11 center committed to Ohio Dominican University - scored eight points with seven rebounds.

Lehigh recruit Hilary Weaver led Hiland with 12 points and four assists, while Bowling Green signee Yoder had 11 points and six rebounds.

"We wanted this, and we did what we had to, to get ourselves back in the game," said Weaver, the Division IV co-Player of the Year. "From a leader standpoint, you can't let yourself think that you're going to get beat. We were all on the same page and we took care of business."

Schlabach said that with the game on the line, he's confident with this group.

"With a group like this, sometimes you can just turn it over to them," the Hiland coach said.

Yoder scored six in the first to keep Hiland alive, but Maria Dahlinghaus countered with eight as Minster led 12-11 after eight minutes of action.

Weaver hit a pair of foul shots and scored on a sweet drive as Hiland grabbed a 15-12 lead early in the second quarter.

Minster, however, scored 11 of the next 13 points, highlighted by a Sarah Huelsman 3-pointer with 3:42 left in the half, pushing the Wildcats ahead 22-17.

Thanks to Minster's pressure, Hiland shot just 28 percent (7 of 25) in the first half and 34 percent (18 of 53) overall.

McKenzie Miller had back-toback drives and Yoder hit a 3-pointer as Hiland opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run, leading 28-23 with 5:16 remaining.

But the Lady Hawks went 1 of 10 from the floor in the ensuing five minutes, and the Wildcats took advantage, pulling to 32-31 with one quarter to play.

Kayla Wuebker hit a 3-pointer and Erica Fullenkamp scored on a putback as the Wildcats opened the fourth strong, taking a 36-34 lead. Dahlinghaus hit a 3 with 2:48 to go to give the Wildcats a 48-41 lead, but Stuckey responded with a quick bucket to cut the Hiland deficit to five.

They were down, but never out, Weaver said.

"We looked at each other and said, ‘Guys we have to battle,'" the senior said. "All we needed was one big stop... one or two extra effort plays to get us over the hump, and we got that."

Dahlinghaus and Fullenkamp each scored 12 points for the Wildcats, while Delanie Wolf added 11 and 10 rebounds.

Minster - a two-time state champ - shot 47 percent (17 of 36) from the field and 63 percent (5 of 8) from 3-point range.

Now the Lady Hawks have some unfinished business to settle as Hiland looks to rebound from a disappointing loss to Columbus Africentric in the state final a season ago.

"We all knew this wasn't our last game," Stutzman said. "We have one more game that we wanted to play. We still have unfinished business. And there are still 32-minutes left."

Schlabach agreed.

"Three hundred and sixty five days ago when we left that locker room, it was a really bitter feeling," he said. "Our group has relentlessly pursued the chance to get back to this game."

It never did.