It took Hiland girls basketball coach Dave Schlabach a couple of years to figure this whole Sectional tournament thing out.
It appears as though he pretty much has the hang of it now.
Schlabach’s Lady Hawks rang up the program’s 22nd straight Sectional title by lighting up Shadyside 77-25 in the Indian Valley Div. IV Sectional Thursday, Feb. 26.
For a team which normally relies heavily on team scoring, Hiland got a terrific performance from senior Megan Beachy, who tossed in 29 points, four more than the entire Shadyside team could muster.
Beachy did that in a variety of ways, between slashing to the bucket, pull-up jumpers, long range lasers and points from the charity stripe.
It was one of those nights when the senior simply could do whatever she wanted to do, and Shadyside was unable to stop her.
Even the beginning of this one kicked off on an ominous note for Shadyside, when their point guard, Logan Johnson, went down with a knee injury just three minutes into the game.
Shadyside would carve out a 4-2 lead over the Lady Hawks early on, Hiland looking “a little nervous” as Schlabach put it.
“I thought we were a little tight, a little scared early on,” said Schlabach. “I know we have accomplished a lot, but we now need to win these kinds of games and then win that close, tight battle, that will surely come along soon.”
Trailing early, Beachy simply took over.
She scored inside, followed by a Kennedy Schlabach 3-pointer. Beachy scored inside again, this time her score was followed by an Angela Troyer three ball.
Then Beachy scored again. By the time she scored on a traditional three point play, Hiland had bolted to a 24-8 lead through one.
Then the Lady Hawks just got nasty.
Beachy hit a triple to begin the period, then Troyer scored inside twice. Kenzie Fielding finally drew blood for the Tigers, ripping a trey of her own, but Beachy answered with one of her own to make it 34-11. Mackenzie Miller scored inside, Troyer hit another 3-pointer, Beachy nailed a jumper.
Mackenzie Osman finally drained a triple for Shadyside before the half, but by then Hiland held a commanding 41-16 advantage.
If the second quarter was tough on Shadyside, the third was simply brutal.
Hiland poured it on, outscoring the Tigers 17-2, limiting Shadyside to just two free throws in the period.
Beachy scored seven straight points to start the scoring, missing a free throw seemingly to let people know that she was human.
“I thought she was very efficient, didn’t force the issue and took very good shots tonight,” said Schlabach of Beachy. By the end of the third quarter, when Brittany Miller was coming up with steals number four and five and reeling off two beautiful passes to fellow senior Alex Troyer for easy scores, the Lady Hawks were up 58-18 and rolling to their Sectional title.
“I thought Brit really got things going in the second half,” said Schlabach. “She took over defensively, gave us great minutes and it feels like she is gearing up for the big games down the road.”
Schlabach also praised reserve post player Mackenzie Miller, who put up six points.
“I feel like Kenz is getting better and better every night, and has been for the past three weeks,” said Schlabach.
He also noted that having Miller come off the bench, along with Jessica Troyer, Alisha Miller and Troyer, who netted 17 points on the night, it gives the Lady Hawks an added strength when the bench can come in and give them an offensive spark.
“Angie is playing well, and we have to keep finding her,” said Schlabach of Troyer. “Having that kind of scoring off the bench is a huge luxury not many teams have.”
Aside from Beachy’s 29 and Troyer’s 17, Hiland got a handful of scoring from plenty of players. Mackenzie Miller added her six, Lish Miller scored five, Schlabach tacked on five, both Alex and Jess Troyer scored four and Isabelle Fowler added three.
Hiland won the rebounding battle 30-16, but a more pertinent statistic was the sheer number of steals for Hiland. Led by Brittany Miller’s five and Beachy and Schlabach’s four, Hiland amassed 25 steals on the night as they pestered the Tigers into coughing up the ball endlessly all night.
“That’s our bread and butter, and it makes us go,” said Schlabach of the defensive pressure in the half court set.
Rachel Horn grabbed a game-high seven rebounds for the Lady Hawks, who made an impressive 27-of-51 action shots, including 9-of-18 from downtown.
Hiland held high-scoring Tigers threat Kenzie Fielding to a 2-of-9 evening, and just six points. Shadyside made just 9-of-40 action shots.
About the only thing Hiland didn’t get right on the night was the net cutting ceremony, something one might think they would be used to doing by now.
Following the victory, despite having won 21 consecutive titles before this one, the Lady Hawks went through the routine of cutting down the championship nets. Just to show how many youngsters are on this team, a number came strolling back to the Hiland bench from the far bucket, each player with strands of the net in hand.
However, the net still dangling from the rim by three strands, the ladder empty of players left to cut.
Schlabach laughed as he urged his kids to finish what they had started.
With the net finally cut completely down, it is on to bigger and better things for there Lady Hawks.
Schlabach hopes that this experience will help his younger players grow accustomed to the trials and tougher games to come.
