BERLIN — Hiland's triumphant comeback over Tuscarawas Central Catholic Wednesday in the Perry Reese Jr. Community Center was reminiscent of an old Dickens classic. The game was a tale of two halves.

To paraphrase the classic tale, it was the worst of times, it was the best of times for the Hawks, who turned a 16-point first-half deficit into a 52-39 victory over the Saints.

Central closed out the first quarter on an 8-0 run, and scored the first seven points of the second stanza to take a 25-10 lead before Regina Hochstetler ended the nearly eight-minute scoring drought for Hiland with a backdoor layup.

Central junior Briana Neidig answered with a layup at the other end. Neidig had 16 points, outscoring the Hawks by herself at one point as the Saints opened up a 30-14 lead.

"Defensively, we were really poor in the first half," Hiland coach Dave Schlabach said. "We were out of control and out of position. They didn't shoot a perimeter jumper and they had 31 at the half. They hit layups and free throws, that was it. We talked about keeping the ball in front of us defensively, and putting some pressure on, and then some kids started to make some plays.

"We're not a great team, but we have a lot of OK players," he added. "We play a lot of people whether they're ready or not. And all those kids had their spots: Regina (Hochstetler) gets rolling, Ashley Weaver makes a couple hustle plays, Missy Mast gets a steal for us off the bench, McKenzie (Miller) picked it up for us in the second half. Regan (Miller) made some plays."

Hiland as a team struggled from the perimeter until the girls closed out the first half on a 9-1 run, thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from the freshman Hochstetler. She scored eight of her 13 in the first half to keep the Hawks in the game. Hiland trailed 31-23 at the break.

The Hawks outscored the Saints 13-7 in the third quarter to trail by two, 38-36 after three.

Central Catholic turned the ball over on the opening possession of the fourth quarter, and McKenzie Miller hit a 3-pointer to give Hiland a 39-38 lead. Another Miller hoop off a Saints miss and a 3-pointer by Meagan Hall gave Hiland a 44-38 advantage.

Another TCC turnover and a Miller bucket had Hiland up eight. Hall hit again for a 10-point lead midway through the final frame. Courtney Standiford split a pair of free throws for the one and only point of the period for the Saints.

Hall paced the Hiland attack with 15 points. Miller finished with 14 after her woeful first half, and Hochstetler added 13.

"We knew it would come down to their pressure," said Central Catholic coach Mike Angelozzi. "Our game plan was to rebound and handle their pressure. We've got some athletes on our team who can compete. We just didn't finish what we started in that first half."

Neidig only scored two points in the second half to finish with a game-high 18.

The win improved Hiland's record to 3-0 on the season, all Inter-Valley Conference affairs. TCC suffered its first loss in three games.