Daily Record Sports Writer
MASSILLON — Borrowing a memorable line from the movie Apollo 13, "Houston, we have a problem."
The Rockets of Lowellville suffered a severe malfunction, misfiring on 8-of-10 long-range shots in the final frame, and finishing just 3-of-21 for the game, enabling the Hiland Hawks to ride their impressive defensive display to a 47-37 triumph in the Div. IV regional semifinal Thursday at Perry High School.
The Rockets simply had no liftoff, and the depth of the Hawks was responsible for the malfunctioning of the Rockets.
Hiland shuttles in 10 players without missing a beat, while Lowellville subbed in only two players for minimal breaks.
"I think our depth eventually wears on people," Hiland coach Dave Schlabach said. "Have you ever been so tired that you can't hardly move? It's hard to shoot."
And that was the feeling of the Lowellville girls, especially in the second half.
"Doggone it, we knew after watching the Rosecrans game, they were similar to us playing five, six kids, I knew what he was going to do to us," Lowellville coach Tony Matisi said. "And you can't simulate anything like that in a week and a half of practice. We were just hoping to go a little longer. As the third and fourth quarters went along, we wore down as the clock wore down."
After playing through a nip-and-tuck, point-for-point battle in the first half that left the teams right where they started, tied at 23, Hiland came out energized in the second half and took control of the game.
"We told the girls at halftime to expect a whole different team out there," Matisi said.
Hiland picked up its defensive intensity in the third quarter, holding the high-scoring Rockets to three field goals in opening up a seven-point lead .
"We had to change things up a little bit in the second half," Schlabach said. "We scouted them a lot, but until you play somebody, you don't really know how quick they are. And they were a lot quicker than we thought. In the first half, we tried to belly them up and pressure them and they just went right by us in the first half. We had a lot of fouls and they got a lot of layups.
"In the second half we wanted to press them in the half court," the coach continued. "We wanted to make them work and not allow them to get to the rim any more."
A McKenzie Miller three-point play, a Jasmine Goings score inside and a steal by Emily Yoder and layup by Kendra Schlabach had Hiland up 32-25 midway through the third quarter.
After Kaye Solak scored inside to stop the Hiland run, another steal and a Regina Hochstetler layup, followed by a Bria Coil bucket on the low post, gave Hiland a 36-29 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
From there, the Hawks tightened the screws on defense, forcing the Rockets into one miss after another.
Lowellville failed to connect on its first four 3-point attempts of the final frame, and the Hawks converted three of those misses into points, as McKenzie Miller, scored twice and Meagan Hall hit a jumper to build a 42-29 lead with 5:55 remaining in the game.
"My biggest fear was second, third and fourth rebounds," Matisi said. "I thought we did a good job of that in the first half, but the second half, their depth took its toll. Him playing his nine, 10 kids took it out of us.
"We couldn't get in any flow," the Rockets' boss continued. "I thought we got some decent looks, we needed a couple to fall. When we couldn't string anything together in the third quarter, that really hurt us."
But the Hawks left the window of opportunity slightly ajar, because they misfired on 8-of-10 free throws down the stretch, including the front end of three one-and-ones.
"I don't understand that, we've been so good at the line lately," Schlabach said.
But the Hawks took enough time off of the clock to end the season for the Rockets (22-3). Hiland (17-8) moves on to play Windham Saturday night in the regional final. Windham defeated Our Lady of the Elms 56-43 in the nightcap at Perry.
The first half looked like a pair of boxers feeling each other out.
Hiland tied the game at 4-4 on a driving layup by Emily Yoder, but the Hawks came up empty on three consecutive possessions, turning the ball over each time.
Lowellville turned those miscues into points and the Hawks trailed 10-4 midway through the first quarter.
A steal by Yoder and a pass inside to Goings ignited a 9-0 run by the Hawks, who took a 13-10 lead.
Regan Miller went coast-to-coast with a rebound for a score, and McKenzie Miller stole the inbounds pass and buried a 3-pointer to give Hiland an 11-10 lead.
After a missed 3, Regan Miller again went the distance to cap off the 9-0 run.
Emily Carlson split a pair of free throws for the Rockets and Hiland led 13-11 after one.
The two teams exchanged counter punches in the second quarter.
A Jenica Schrock triple gave Hiland a 19-15 advantage, but a 3-pointer from Solak, a jumper from the wing by Rachel Durbin and a pair of Solak free throws had the Rockets back on top 22-19.
Regan Miller beat the buzzer with a layup to send the teams into the half with the score knotted at 23.
"All tournament long, Regan has been a different player," Schlabach said. "We're not a high-powered team this year, so we have to have somebody step up and have a special performance every now and then. She's done it for four straight games. She rebounds, plus she takes on the opposition's best scorer every game."
Regan Miller finished with six points. McKenzie Miller was the lone Hiland player in double figures with 12. Kendra Schlabach chipped in six, Schrock added five and Yoder, Goings and Coil each added four to pace the balanced attack of the Hawks. Solak led Lowellville with 13 points.
