A glorious season for the Hiland Lady Hawks came to a screeching halt in the state semifinal game against Fort Loramie Thursday, March 19.

The culprit in the loss was something that head coach Dave Schlabach had feared all season long, a serious drought from deep.

Hiland fired away from beyond the arc all game long, but was able to hit on just 3-of-29 3-point attempts.

“We shot well all season long,” said Schlabach, whose team set a school record for threes. “Unfortunately we didn’t shoot it well today.”

Megan Beachy got the Lady Hawks off and running with a score inside off an inbounds play and followed that up with a triple to give Hiland a 5-0 lead. After Loramie took the lead, Kennedy Schlabach dropped in a trey to give Hiland the lead back at 8-6. The freshman scored moments later inside, after a Redskins turnover, to give Hiland a 10-6 edge.

Holly Frey then scored an and-one after two offensive boards for the Redskins to trim Hiland’s lead to 10-9 with 56 seconds to play in the first quarter.

Hiland’s pressure and double and triple teaming forced Redskins star forward Jessica Boerger into some tough shots, and the high scoring threat had just one point as Hiland took a 10-9 lead into the second quarter.

The second quarter saw Schlabach come to life, and while she finished the half with 10 points, and Beachy added eight, Hiland was trailing 19-18. If there was any question as to how evenly matched these two juggernaut programs were, it was answered in the second quarter, where there were six lead changes alone.

Hiland’s fortunes didn’t change a lot early on in the second half, when they committed turnovers at an alarming rate. That allowed Fort Loramie to go on an 8-0 run to begin the third quarter, with the Lady Hawks taking only two shots during a five minute span.

We gave them a lot of lay-ups, a lot of easy stuff,” said Schlabach, who added of getting beat down the floor by the Redskins, “It was unexpected, and it was disappointing that we allowed it to happen.”

The Redskins continued to pound the ball inside and create havoc in the Hiland passing lanes, and it wasn’t until Angela Troyer scored on a short jumper and Jessica Troyer hit two free throws with 2:30 to play in the quarter that Hiland got anything going, cutting the Fort Loramie lead to 31-23.

However, that Redskins run would prove to be the difference in the game for Hiland. Angela Troyer canned a long jumper after a Janell Hoying score, and Hiland had its work cut out, trailing 33-25 heading into the final eight minutes.

Boerger’s 14-foot jumper to begin the fourth quarter again gave Fort Loramie a 10 point edge, and after a Hiland turnover, the Redskins failed to score and Angela Troyer hit a lay-up. Frey missed a bunny inside, but Hiland failed to capitalize, and Beachy picked up her fourth foul. Kennedy Schlabach then hit her third three ball of the game with 5:13 to play, and the Lady Hawks were as close as they had been for ages, trailing 35-30.

Fort Loramie continued to pound the ball inside, looking for Boerger, Kelly Turner and Frey. But Boerger missed inside, and Angela Troyer rebounded. Hiland couldn’t take advantage, Beachy’s misfired on a 3-pointer failing to find its mark. Schlabach then picked up her fourth foul moments later, and Hoying hit both free throws. Angela Troyer answered that with a jumper in the lane to make it 37-32.

Kelly Turner made a nice move inside to give the Redskins a 39-32 edge with 3:12 to play.

Angela Troyer, who had become Hiland’s entire offense, hit both ends of a free throw to make it 39-34.

Brit Miller then made a beautiful defensive play, and gave Hiland life. Hiland took two cracks at three balls, but came up empty.

Boerger hit two key free throws with 1:29 to play, and Rachel Horn missed from downtown, but Hiland tied up the rebound. However, Schlabach misfired on a trey with with one minute to play.

As the Redskins missed a pile of free throws and turned the ball over, it seemed as though Fort Loramie was waiting for Hiland to make a run, but the Lady Hawks simply could not make a shot, coming up empty on 3-pointer after 3-pointer.

Schlabach hit two of three free throws after being fouled with 36 seconds to play, drawing Hiland within 43-36, but it wasn’t enough.

Fort Loramie would advance to the finals.

“Obviously we are disappointed,” said Coach Schlabach. “Our effort was great. I thought our kids played really hard. There was a couple of times when we were a shot away from getting it going. We just really struggled from the perimeter.”

The loss will sting, but it won’t mar a season in which Schlabach said his team achieved many great things. “Our kids invest a lot and it hurts to get beat,” said Schlabach. “That’s how it is supposed to be. But this team really had an amazing season, maybe better than most people thought they would have.”

The one thing that could rear its ugly head for the Lady Hawks, their shooting from downtown, had bitten them, and bitten them hard.

Schlabach finished with a game-high 15 points, the freshman hitting all three of Hiland’s triples. Angela Troyer finished strong, scoring 10 of Hiland’s 16 second half points. Beachy ended her superb career with eight points, all in the first half.