NORTH CANTON — Hiland got some timely shots from the floor to make up for some shaky free throw shooting to grind out a 43-41 triumph over Northmont from the Dayton area Monday afternoon at the North Canton Hoover Holiday Classic.

"There are a lot of things we'd like to do better," Hiland coach Dave Schlabach said. "These games give us a chance to evaluate ourselves. We can learn a lot about ourselves from games like this. We didn't feel like we played great, but we'd feel a whole lot worse had we given it away.

"Our kids and our youth, they have to know what this kind of game feels like," the coach continued. "The competition is getting great on this team. We don't have a lot of great players, but we have a lot of pretty good players, who, all of a sudden, there's not enough spots for."

Both teams struggled from the field early on and the game was a tug-of-war through the final seconds.

Hiland had a chance to ice the game in the waning seconds, but the Hawks missed 5-of-6 free throws in the final 40 seconds.

Freshman Regina Hochstetler hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to give Hiland a 35-29 advantage. She hit another jumper a minute later to answer a Thunderbolt score with 5:30 remaining in the game.

"We executed a couple specials that we ran where Regina got a hot hand and we were able to get her some shots," Schlabach said.

Hochstetler paced the Hiland attack with 13 points. Regan Miller added 11 for the winners.

Miller beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer from the corner to give Hiland a 29-27 lead after three quarters.

The two teams slugged it out trying to establish the low post in the first half. It was knotted at 6-6 after the opening eight minutes of action.

Hochstetler completed a three-point play to give Hiland an 11-9 advantage midway through the second quarter. Emily Yoder scored to give Hiland a 13-9 lead, but the Thunderbolts closed the first half on an 8-2 run to take a 17-15 advantage at the half.

"They brought a lot of pressure and athleticism," Schlabach said. "We struggle with that. They were a get-to-the-rim team. In the first half, we did a good job of stopping them from getting to the rim, but we fouled them a little too much. In the second half, we didn't do as good a job and they got a lot of layups."

Northmont missed all 10 of its shots from beyond the 3-point arc, and finished 14-for-44 from the field.

"We usually play a faster paced game," Thunderbolts coach Matt Adams said. "This game went pretty much how I thought it would go. Playing a team as good as Hiland, they have been there before and that showed at the end. You could tell they have been in this situation before, and we haven't been there very often. We're getting there. We're competing."

HIland finished 12-of-31 from the free-throw line. The Hawks canned three 3-pointers and made 14-of-39 shots from the floor overall.

The win improved the Hawks' record to 6-1 overall. Northmont dipped to 3-5.