HILAND GIRLS ROLL ONCE AGAIN

By ANDREW VOGEL
Daily Record Sports Writer

The Hiland girls basketball team is still waiting for its first tournament test.

The Hawks won their third consecutive postseason game by more than 30 points, throttling Shenandoah 58-23 in Saturday's Div. IV New Philadelphia District semifinal. With the victory, Hiland (24-1), ranked No. 1 in the final AP poll, now plays River today at 2 p.m. in New Philadelphia in a district final for a spot in next week's Massillon Regional.

With only one setback all year, Hiland rolled through the regular season and has picked up right where it left off. All but two of Hiland's contributors had never played meaningful postseason minutes prior to this year's tournament. Coach Dave Schlabach emphasized, however, that his team has played with incredible poise in its first three contests.

"The kids are filling their roles," Schlabach said. "Sometimes you get to tournament time and and you do things differently, but our kids have stuck to the game plan."

Going into Saturday's contest, Schlabach said the coaching staff felt Shenandoah could cause problems for the Hawks with its guard play, but the Zeps were held to just 7 of 39 shooting (18 percent). Two of their key players struggled mightily from the floor, with Ashlee Wurelick canning just 2 of 14 and Jessica Long going 1 of 11. Shenandoah, which went 1 for 14 from long range, had no players score in double figures.

Like so many other teams that have squared off against Hiland, Shenandoah was completely flummoxed on the perimeter.

"Teams that play us for the first time struggle with our pressure," Schlabach said. "In the tournament, when we apply our relentless defensive pressure, it's something they haven't seen."

The other encouraging sign for Hiland early in the tournament has been its balanced scoring and that continued Saturday. Kennedy Schlabach had scored a total of nine points in the first two games, but led Hiland in scoring with 16 points yesterday as 10 different players scored.

"It's somebody different every night," Coach Schlabach said. "Kennedy didn't score much at sectionals but she did today. We've had a lot of different kids score and that bodes well."