COLUMBUS — All season, the undersized Hiland girls basketball team has measured up against every opponent. Against a much bigger Fort Loramie squad, ironically it was from beyond the arc where the Hawks came up short. Hiland forced more turnovers and held its own on the glass for much of Thursday's contest, but was ultimately undone by its worst shooting performance of the year. The Hawks canned just 3 of 29 from beyond the arc as they fell to the Redskins 45-36 in a Div. IV state semifinal at the Jerome Schottenstein Center. With its second win over Hiland in Columbus over the last three years, Fort Loramie (25-4) will play Waterford (27-1) on Saturday at 10:45 a.m. for the state championship.

Throughout the season, the Hawks, with one player on the roster taller than 5-foot-9, have compensated for their lack of size with lights-out perimeter shooting and an opportunistic press defense. On Thursday, though, Hiland shot 10 percent from long range and, while it forced 16 turnovers, it had only four points to show for them.

"We knew Hiland was going to shoot a ton of 3s today," said Fort Loramie coach Carla Siegel, whose team has appeared at state the last three years and in five of the past six. "We were just hoping they wouldn't go in."

They certainly didn't, especially in the second half. While Hiland (27-2) led for a majority of the first half and trailed just 19-18 at intermission, it especially struggled from long range in the final 16 minutes, canning only 1 for 16.

"We've shot it really well all season, but unfortunately we didn't shoot it as well today," said Hiland coach Dave Schlabach, whose team set a school record this year by canning 227 of its 640 3-point attempts, a 36 percent clip. "They were the shots we've taken all year."

Kennedy Schlabach's jumper made it 18-17 Hiland with a minute left before the break, but Fort Loramie responded on the next possession with a jumper from Hallie Benanzer to take a one-point lead into the locker room. The Redskins then started the second half off on an 8-0 run. After a jumper by Kelly Turner, the Redskins picked the Hawks off on two consecutive possessions, with Holly Frey getting an interception and then going the length of the floor, and then Jessica Boerger doing the same thing on Hiland's very next possession. From there, another layup by Frey gave Fort Loramie its largest lead of the afternoon at 27-19 midway through the third quarter.

"I know they're a good defensive team," Siegel said, "but I felt that we were faster and could get up and down the floor. In that third quarter, we got those transition looks. Hollie had a steal that sparked us and Jess came down the next play and got another steal jumping the gap. Those were two huge plays that got us going."

It was an unfamiliar position for Hiland, which usually makes its living off pick-pockets and easy buckets. The Redskins, however, turned the tables and beat them at their own game. For the afternoon, Fort Loramie was led with 10 points apiece by Turner and Boerger and found more of an offensive rhythm in the second half, shooting 45 percent from the floor.

"It was disappointing we allowed (the transition points) to happen," coach Schlabach said. "It surprised us and it's not something we're used to giving up either."

Fort Loramie led by double digits (35-25) early in the fourth quarter, but Hiland trimmed the margin to 39-34 with 3 minutes left following two freebies by Angela Troyer. After Hiland forced a defensive stop on the other end, it had two good looks at 3-pointers that would've cut the deficit to two, but couldn't get either to fall. Brittany Miller's trey from near the top of the key was off the mark, but was corralled in the corner by Rachel Horn. After the Hawks passed the ball around, Horn was left open for another try from downtown, but that shot rattled out, too. Boerger then sank two free throws on the other end to close out the victory.

For the contest, freshman point guard Kennedy Schlabach had a game-high 15 points and was 3 for 10 from long range. The rest of the Hawks, though, were 0 for 19 on 3-pointers.

"We got all the looks we wanted, they just weren't falling," the rookie floor general said. "We couldn't get points off the forced turnovers."

At the same time, coach Schlabach was also able to take the long view. Coming into the year, the Hawks had two returning contributors, no size and had to break in a brand-new point guard. Nonetheless, they spent most of the year ranked No. 1 in the state and notched the 14th Final Four berth in school history.

"There were a lot of question marks about our rotation," he said, "but we'll look back and realize this was one of our bigger surprise years from start to finish. Our kids invest a lot and it hurts when you get beat. That's the way it's supposed to be."