The Hiland Lady Hawks have been to the state finals in each of the past two seasons, which is where veteran coach Dave Schlabach expects to end his season every year.

Hiland sneaked up on a lot of people the past two seasons, but there won't be much sneaking this year, as the Hawks field a squad of experienced players who hope to get to the next step this season.

"We are very skilled and we are very deep," Schlabach said. "We have proven, great guard play. We have 14 girls on the varsity right now and they all have a shot to play. Our practices are very, very, very competitive. Some kids are fighting for spots and we're a week away from our opening game."

Leading the Hawks this year are a trio of seniors who have already committed to play college basketball. Regina Hochstetler, the leading scorer from last year's team at 19 points per game, will take her talents to Cedarville, while Sasha Goings and point guard Emily Yoder were offered scholarships to Urbana.

Senior Jenica Schrock has been a four-year player, overcoming a knee injury her freshman season, and Erin Schrock is another senior who hopes to make an impact before it's too late.

"We have some post kids with great potential in (junior) Mackenzie Miller, Erin Schrock and (another junior) Rachel Horn," Schlabach said. "It's time for these kids to step out from behind the curtain and take center stage."

Junior Megan Beachy was able to pick up the scoring slack when needed, averaging 12 points per game, giving the Hawks another threat from the perimeter along with Hochstetler.

Sophomore Brittany Miller has been a pleasant surprise for Schlabach. She was injured and missed all of last year.

"If she had been healthy, I think she'd have been enough to help us win a state championship last year," Schlabach said. "She's that good."

Junior guard Benay Miller is working her way back from injury and hopes to get in on the fun, along with Alex Troyer, while another sophomore guard Lindsay Yoder is hoping to make an impact as well.

While Hiland has no shortage of players, the Hawks don't have much height.

"We have to figure out how to play with our lack of size, even more so than in the past," Schlabach said. "We'll be depth and tempo. Up 50 or down 50, we're probably going to be pressing and running. That's just how we are."

The coach sees very little competition in the Inter-Valley Conference, but tries to make up for that by packing the schedule with tough non-conference clashes, such as the season opener against Div. I state powerhouse Twinsburg.

"We'd love to play 20 games like Twinsburg," Schlabach said. "We always enjoy competing against the best we can find. We'd like to do that more often. Our non-league schedule is tough. We've got West Holmes, our Classic in the Country games, and Carrollton. Unfortunately, we had to drop St. V and Wadsworth because of the addition of East Canton to the IVC."

Schlabach looks forward to another fun season, but admits he's always had a soft spot for his group of seniors.

"When this group was in junior high, I told them I can't wait until they are in high school. And now they're getting ready to graduate. This season is going to go really, really fast for them. I'm definitely going to miss this senior class when they're gone," the coach said.