Hiland to play for Div. IV state girls title

By KEVIN LYNCH
Daily Record Sports Writer

COLUMBUS — Dave Schlabach's mantra for years has been "defense and rebounding wins championships."

The Lady Hawks took their mentor's words of wisdom to heart, out-rebounding the Patriots of Tri-Village 35-21 and clamping down on defense in the second half to post a 53-47 triumph in the Div. IV state semifinal Thursday afternoon in the Value City Arena at Schottenstein Center on the campus of The Ohio State University.

The win advanced Hiland to Saturday's championship game against Arlington, a 55-44 winner over Mansfield St. Peter's.

"Hiland came in here and played a great ball game," said Tri-Village coach Brad Gray. "They shot the ball well and rebounded, which we knew was a great strength of theirs. If we could've kept them off the offensive glass, we felt we had a good chance of winning. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do that.

"I don't think any strategy won the game for them," the coach continued. "It was just us not rebounding the basketball."

The Hawks yanked down 18 offensive rebounds. And it wasn't just one player, either. Regina Hochstetler had four offensive boards and Bria Coil and Regan Miller pulled down three each. Jasmine Goings and McKenzie Miller each had two offensive rebounds.

"I see we were plus 14 in rebounds," Schlabach said. "They are the first team to get over 40 (points) on us on the tournament trail. A lot of times we may not have the best five on the court, but defensively our kids have really taken a lot on.

"Emily (Yoder) kind of gets things going with her pressure on the ball," Schlabach added. "She's relentless. She's annoying. Em started our first scrimmage of the year on JV. A couple weeks later, she's the back-up varsity point guard. Somewhere along the line, we turned the team over to her, and she's done a great job leading us from the point guard spot."

Yoder said it was the North Canton Hoover game at Classic in the Country when she realized the team was hers to lead.

Her coach says she is the hardest working kid on the team.

"I really enjoy defense," the sophomore said. "I'm stronger on the defensive end. It's really fun annoying people."

The Hawks had a hard time closing the deal against the Patriots, going up 10 in the fourth quarter, only to let the lead slip away in the waning moments because the Hawks struggled from the free throw line.

A Jasmine Goings stick back of a missed triple try put the Hawks up 10 (43-33) at the start of the fourth quarter. Teha Richards answered with a 3-pointer for the Patriots, but Yoder scored after the Hawks worked more than a minute off the clock. Yoder's score gave the Hawks a 45-36 lead with 5:55 to play in the final frame.

Hiland went 3-of-9 from the stripe over the next five minutes, enabling Tri-Village to trim the lead to 47-45 with 75 seconds remaining. The usually reliable free throw shooters of the Hawks missed the front end of three one-and-ones during that stretch.

"We finished off a number of games shooting the ball very well from the line," Schlabach said. "I'm glad we were able to win that one and not have that be the reason we lost. Our kids all usually shoot the ball very well from the line."

The Tri-Village coach said fouling Hiland in the fourth quarter wasn't the initial plan, but it worked.

"We didn't want to expend a lot of energy chasing them around," Gray said. "We prayed they'd miss some free throws, which fortunately, they did. We got it down to two (47-45) at that point."

Yoder split a pair of freebies to make it 48-45,.

Tri-Village missed a shot and Hiland got the rebound on a held ball. Yoder then knocked down a pair to give Hiland a 50-45 lead with 47 seconds remaining.

Linkous swished a pair of free throws at the other end to trim it back to three, but Regan Miller split a pair for the Hawks to make it 51-47 with 28 seconds to play.

The Patriots misfired on three shots at the offensive end and McKenzie Miller iced the game with a pair of free throws. The Ashland-bound senior finished with 17 points, including a record-tying four 3-pointers.

"She's our go-to kid. She's deferred a lot this year," Schlabach said. "She may have deferred a little too much in the middle of the year, which may have caused some of our problems. She's unselfish. Last year she had to score a lot in order for us to be successful. This year, she wanted to hand the torch over a little bit. She is our go-to player. "

Miller said it took her somewhere between 15 to 20 shots to get used to shooting from 3-point range without walls in the background. She was thrilled to move on to Saturday's final.

"It pretty much feels incredible," Miller said. "I was here as a freshman and sophomore, but I wanted to end my career here. My teammates got me here as a senior. I feel really blessed and thankful."

One teammate who helped the Hawks advance was Regina Hochstetler, who finished with 14 points. Hochstetler drilled 3-of-5 from 3-point range.

Hiland did a great job against D-IV co-player of the year Kayla Linkous, who came into the game averaging better than 25 points per game.

"We have a tremendous amount of respect for her," Schlabach said. "How did we stop her? 26 teams couldn't do it. We tried a three-pronged approach. A lot of people let her catch the ball; well once she catches the ball, it's over. We wanted to front her on the post and put extreme pressure on the guards. That seemed to do the trick. It was a team effort. We had to work hard to figure out a way not to let her get 30 on us. That first half lead let us stretch it out a little bit. I know she had a big second half."

Linkous was held scoreless in the first half, managing only two shots. She finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

"We were going to give the backside three," Schlabach said. "We've got to tip our hat to their other kids who stepped up and hit shots."

Krystal Falknor drained a pair of 3-pointers and Shaye Thomas canned a pair to help the Patriots stay within five, 28-23, at intermission.

After shooting lights out (5-of-7) from 3-point range in the first half, the Patriots went 3-11 in the second half. Hiland started by making 6-of-19 from long range, but went 2-for-3 in the second half.

The teams traded buckets to open the third quarter, and a three-point play by Linkous got Tri-Village back to within 32-28.

McKenzie Miller knocked down a triple, but Linkous answered with one of her own.

A jumper by Meagan Hall, a free throw from Hochstetler and a 3-pointer by the sophomore gave Hiland a 10-point lead late in the third. Linkous scored inside to trim the Hiland lead to eight, 41-33, after three.

The two teams combined for a record-setting performance from 3-point range, each knocking down eight. McKenize Miller also tied the individual record with four triples. Miller hit a pair of 3-pointers and an inside bucket for eight of Hiland's first 12 points as the Hawks opened up a 12-10 lead after one.

Hiland had eight different players score, and all nine girls who played had a rebound. Goings finished with seven points and four boards. Yoder added five points and Hall added four.

the Hiland bench out-scored Tri-Village 22-0.

"I thought we got as much out of our two big kids as we can," Schlabach said.

Thomas and Falknor each finished with 10 for Tri-Village (25-2), joining Linkous in double figures.

"Our seniors have really stepped it up the last few weeks," Schlabach said. "I thought we came up with a lot of stuff. They had six offensive rebounds. We had 18. My kids had a great effort and were getting us extra possessions. A lot of those threes we hit were off of second chances. I thought we deserved to win. I thought our kids played hard, aggressive and made plays."