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And the Oscar goes to: West Holmes' supporting cast too much for Hiland

By KEVIN LYNCH
Daily Record Sports Writer

BERLIN — In cinematic terms, Hiland junior McKenzie Miller would have taken home the Oscar for best performance in the annual battle for bragging rights in Holmes County between the Hawks and the visiting West Holmes Knights.

West Holmes, on the other hand, would have won for best supporting actress and the Knights would have taken home the ultimate prize for best picture, pulling out a 48-41 triumph over the Hawks.

Miller tossed in 21 points , grabbed six rebounds, dished out four assists and had two steals, but it wasn't enough.

"She's giving us everything. She's searching for a teammate or two to step up," Hiland coach Dave Schlabach said. "Kenzie continues to play very, very big in big games. I give her a lot of credit. But we're going to need somebody else at sometime to hit a shot.

"Our second, third and fourth scorers are really struggling right now. If we don't get some additional scoring, then we're a one-game-and-out team in the districts," the coach continued. "West Holmes is a very good team. We just have to get somebody else to hit a big shot for us. They missed four consecutive free throws, but we couldn't get a shot, and we couldn't get a board. That was disappointing."

The coach was referring to the stretch in the fourth quarter where the Knights held an 8-point lead, 41-33, with 2:40 remaining.

A West Holmes turnover was followed by a missed 3-point attempt at the 2-minute mark.

On the next four possessions, the Knights missed the front end of the one-and-one bonus, before Paige Asche knocked down the second of two free throws with a minute left to make it 42-33. The Snyder sisters finally swished some free throws to extend the lead, but Hiland got two late triples to make the final score closer.

"I thought Paige Asche played a heck of a game for us," West Holmes coach Lisa Patterson said. "I think one of the biggest differences in this game was Paige. She came to play. As a senior you want that. In this tournament-like atmosphere, it was good to see that Paige came to play. She's had some big games for us, but not necessarily against the stiffest competition. She proved that she can do that."

Asche hit a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 12 points. She had three rebounds, two assists and three steals.

Lindsy Snyder also scored a dozen to lead West Holmes to win No. 15 against two defeats. Laina Snyder just missed double figures with nine points to go with five rebounds.

"Their supporting cast knocked down shots," Schlabach said. "Our supporting cast did not. We're an average team when our supporting cast doesn't give us much offensively."

The Knights got off to a slow start, turning the ball over on their first possession and missing a pair of 3-pointers. Miller split a pair of free throws and added a triple around a Bria Coil bucket for a 6-0 Hiland lead. Justice Wright stroked a triple to cut the Hiland lead in half at 6-3.

Miller scored the first six points of the second period to put Hiland back up 15-10 before the Knights rallied to tie it on an Asche 3-pointer. West Holmes took the lead 18-17 on another Wright triple, but Regina Hochstetler stroked one for the Hawks and Hiland led 20-18.

Lindsy Snyder hit a jumper to knot things at 20, then followed with two free throws for a 22-20 advantage.

"Lindsy was rattled early. They were beating the living daylights out of her in the first quarter. She was taking elbows and the refs weren't seeing it. It got into her head a little bit, but she battled through it," Patterson said. "She came off the bench and drained a shot after that episode. I thought it was very important for her to come back after that."

A steal off the inbounds and a 3-pointer by Emily Molnar gave the Knights a 25-20 lead at intermission.

Hiland opened the second half getting buckets by Miller, Arrianna Schrock and Meagan Hall to take a 26-25 lead. The teams traded the lead, and Schrock split a pair of free throws to knot things at 29. Asche canned a triple to give West Holmes a 32-29 lead after three.

"They scored the first few buckets of the second half," Patterson said. "We could have easily panicked and our determination and desire to win pulled us through. The girls didn't want to come out of here with a loss.

"I thought we played composed," Patterson added. "Our young kids didn't turn the ball over, didn't get rattled. Em (Molnar) did a nice job of running the offense. She got a little slower, wasn't playing too fast."

The freshman point guard finished with six points, seven rebounds and five assists.

"McKenzie had 13 at the half and finished with 21. I thought Paiten (Strother) did a pretty good job of locking in on her," Patterson said. "It's very good to come out of here with a win in this situation. You want to have your kids tested before you go to tournaments. This was a good test. Take away the free throws, and we did pretty good."

The same couldn't be said for the Hawks.

"We ended up having to play a style we didn't want to play tonight," Schlabach said. "Their supporting cast hit shots, that, had they struggled, we could've played a certain style we wanted; slow it down, pack it in. To their credit, their perimeter guards knocked down shots. Wright, Asche, Strother, Molnar, all hit 3-pointers. Then we had to extend ourselves and the game had to speed up. And then we were playing from behind. It didn't end up the style we'd have preferred.

"I appreciated the game. We don't get a lot of games like that," Schlabach added. "Obviously, we'd like to win that game, but more so, my kids need to go through that physical type of game. We wanted our kids to know how this feels in terms of preparation. But it also continued to expose our weaknesses. Unfortunately, in Game 18, we have the exact same weakness we had in Game 1.

"We need to get about 25 a game from Kendra (Schlabach), Regina (Hochstetler) and Meagan (Hall), but right now we're getting about six total," he continued. "Those three are very capable, and they are going to have to (score) at some point in time."

Hochstetler finished with six points for the 14-4 Hawks.