Daily Record Sports Writer
MILLERSBURG — In the annual battle for bragging rights in Holmes County, this one came down to who wanted it more.
And the West Holmes Knights were not to be denied on their home court, holding off the Hiland Hawks 44-31 in a non-conference clash Tuesday in the Dungeon.
"We knew it would be a battle," said West Holmes coach Lisa Patterson. "People say Hiland's having a down year, they have six losses (now seven), but look at their schedule. This game, it doesn't matter what your records are coming in. It's West vs. East.You come into this one 0-0."
Veteran Hiland coach Dave Schlabach said it was a matter of West Holmes wanting it more.
"Their kids wanted it a little more than ours when the game was on the line," Schlabach said.
In particular, West Holmes' sophomore post Laina Snyder.
"When it came crunch time, it was obvious who the best player on the floor was," Schlabach said of Snyder. "I thought our kids played pretty well.We just don't have anybody who can finish a game; who can will us to a win. We're a good three and-a-half quarter team. That's where we're at.
"I think we're a good defensive team. Our young kids are starting to do some things," Schlabach continued."We know what the problem is, unfortunately, we don't have the ability to fix it. It has to fix itself. These kids want to win. But there's a difference between wanting to win and wanting to win bad enough at all costs."
Snyder made her presence felt on both ends of the floor, pouring in 11 points and ripping down 17 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end.
"She is a big part of our offense and defense," Patterson said of Snyder. "When (McKenzie) Miller was on her and she had two fouls, we were trying to get her to pick up her third. If somebody plays behind Laina, she has to have the basketball. If they're going to stay behind, if there's a post entry, there's no question."
The Knights worked it inside to Snyder a lot in the second half, as she scored eight of her 11 points during that time. Snyder scored the first two buckets of the fourth quarter and split a pair of free throws in the final frame, when the Knights outscored Hiland 19-7. Six of those came in the final 1:18 from the free throw line by Emily Molnar. The sophomore point guard finished with 13 points, hitting 9-10 from the charity stripe.
"Emily was phenomenal from the free throw line," Patterson said.
The Knights had been shooting lights out from the perimeter in previous games, but struggled to get shots to drop tonight, making 4-of-17 from beyond the arc.
"They really stretched their zone out. We only made four threes and Justice Wright made two of them," Patterson said.
"That hasn't happened all year. Kudos to Justice. She came to play tonight. She hit some big shots tonight."
Wright stroked a triple to close out the third quarter, giving the Knights a 25-24 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
"We played a 2-3 zone for the first time in 20 years because we couldn't handle their athleticism," Schlabach said. "And for the second year in a row, their kids have stepped up. Justice (Wright) hit two huge 3-pointers."
After Snyder scored twice to open the final frame, McKenzie Miller scored a three-point play to pull the Hawks back within 29-27.
Paiten Strother scored inside and Rachelle Morrison drilled a 3-pointer and the lead was out to eight (35-27) with 2:33 remaining in the game.
From there, West Holmes held Hiland off by making its free throws down the stretch and dominating the glass. The Knights won the battle of the boards 38-26.
"The rebounds we came up with in the third and fourth quarter were huge," Patterson said. "Rachelle (Morrison) and Mallori (Vess) both came up with huge rebounds late in the game. Paiten was a little frustrated early. She picked up two fouls and had to sit and couldn't find her groove offensively, but there's more to the game than knocking own threes. I think she did a pretty good job.
"You want to try and give your kids as many different types of games as possible before you get to tournaments. That was a different style of game than we've played.," Patterson added.
West Holmes (16-3) had three players score in double figures. Molnar led the way with 13. Snyder added 11 and Morrison chipped in 10. Hiland dropped to 10-7 with the loss.
