BERLIN — Hiland's depth paid dividends down the stretch, taking its toll on the Tigers as the Hawks topped visiting Strasburg 46-35 in the season opener Wednesday at the Perry Reese Jr. Community Center.

"It's frustrating. We feel we need more out of our younger girls. We've got to be a little deeper," said Strasburg coach Brenton Bonano. "We hung with them. It was a two-point ballgame into the third quarter and we started to run out of gas right about there. If we can get those sophomores to step in and give us some minutes, that will be an improvement.

"They were fresh towards the end because they were able to rotate their young kids in, letting them play and keeping after it," the coach continued. "They do a nice job of that. Mackenzie (Columbo) needs some help bringing the ball up the floor. It's just a matter of getting girls to believe they can do that, because we know they can."

Hiland coach Dave Schlabach called Columbo the best point guard in the Inter-Valley Conference.

"We ran a lot of kids at her all night and she did a great job handling the pressure," Schlabach said.

The teams traded buckets through the first quarter. McKenzie Miller got Hiland started by stroking a 3-pointer, but Stephanie Schuster answered with a triple for the Tigers. Meagan Hall hit a pair of free throws to give Hiland a 10-9 lead and then a 3-pointer by Hall to beat the buzzer gave the Hawks a 13-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Hiland rode that wave of momentum to a 6-0 run to start the second quarter, opening up a 19-9 lead, but the Tigers clawed their way back to trail 20-18 by intermission.

"This game was very similar to last year. Kids we thought that had been scoring for us gave us nothing offensively," Schlabach said. "These kids have got to do it on game night."

One kid who did contribute was junior post Jasmine Goings, who led the Hiland attack with 11 points and six rebounds.

Goings asserted herself on the low post, scoring a a pair of second-chance buckets, completing a three-point play on the second to give Hiland a 29-25 lead late in the third.

"We're not surprised. But we're excited for her," Schlabach said. "She's a very smart kid on the floor. She moves very well on that post spot. We got by far more contribution from our bigs than we did a year ago. I thought we dominated the boards the first 12 minutes or so, and then in the second half."

Hiland won the battle of the boards 35-23, yanking down 21 offensive rebounds. Goings and starting post Bria Coil combined for 12 rebounds, nine on the offensive end.

From that point on, it was all Hiland. Regina Hochstetler followed with a layup to put Hiland ahead by five 31-26 after three.

The Hawks scored eight straight to open the final frame, building a 39-26 lead and then hung on for the inaugural win.

"We got great on-ball pressure from Regan (Miller), Emily (Yoder) and Jenica (Schrock), but we didn't take good care of the basketball," Schlabach said. "Their pressure bothered us. Teams are going to pressure us until we prove we can handle it."

Hiland committed 19 turnovers, while shooting 16-of-49 from the field.

Joining Goings in double figures was McKenzie Miller with 10. Hall finished with nine points and four steals.

Strasburg was led by Schuster's 11 points. Nikki Cregan added nine points and eight rebounds and Columbo chipped in eight points for the Tigers (1-1, 0-1).

"I'm looking forward to our next game," Schlabach said. "We're only going to get better."