All throughout this offseason Hiland girls basketball coach Dave Schlabach has warned people about how improved Malvern will be and how good sophomore star Sara Loomis is.

The Lady Hawks took Schlabach at his word, and played some outstanding defense in shutting down Malvern in a 55-40 win that wasn’t really that close.

While Hiland struggled shooting the ball all night, it didn’t have any issues laying down a suppressing half-court defense to stifle the Hornets.

Outside of the shooting woes for the Lady Hawks, who went a sluggish 15-of-41 from the floor on the night for 36 percent, Hiland did exactly what it wanted to do coming into the game.

In particular, they rebounded well, outboarding the Hornets 36-27, despite the size disadvantage, and played ferociously in the half court defensive set, forcing Malvern into 19 turnovers.

The other thing that pleased Schlabach was the minuscule number on Hiland’s turnover ledger. The Lady Hawks had just six turnovers on the night, meaning it took great care of the rock.

“We accomplished most of what we wanted to do,” said Hiland Schlabach. “Malvern is a good team with one great player in Sara Loomis. She is tough to defend. But I thought that even though we shot the ball horrendously, our half court defense and our rebounding were solid. I was pleased that we were able to wear them down throughout the course of the game.”

While the final spread was 15, Hiland actually led much of the game by anywhere from 20 to 24 points, Malvern rallying against the deep end of Hiland’s bench late in the fourth quarter.

From the get-go Hiland held a commanding edge, but it took a while for that dominance to show up. After a four point lead at 11-7 after one quarter, Hiland turned up the pressure defensively, and began pulling away, going on a 19-7 run in the second quarter to forge the 30-14 half-time advantage.

At the half, Megan Beachy scored eight points, and Brittany Miller added six.

The second half got no better for Malvern, who continually went to either Loomis, who forced her way into the paint and to the foul line to the tune of 11 free throw attempts, or Kelsi Hulit inside, as the Hornets tried to take advantage of their height.

Loomis proved to be everything Schlabach said she would be, presenting a tough match-up for the Lady Hawks.

The sophomore scored a game-high 20 points and Hulit added a dozen, but unfortunately for Malvern, it wasn’t until very late in the game that anyone else even scored.

Meanwhile, Hiland was getting great balanced scoring, led by Beachy’s 15 points. Miller ended with seven, while Kennedy Schlabach scored nine points, adding five assists and six steals. Alex Troyer added six, while six other Lady Hawks found the scoring column.

Rachel Horn and Beachy led the rebounding attack with seven apiece, while Loomis completed her huge night with a 14-board effort.

Malvern did manage to shoot 50 percent, making 16-of-32 action shots, but the turnovers played a big role in the deficit.

“It was a nice win for us,” said Schlabach. “Malvern is a solid team that we knew would give us trouble. It was good to see how some of our younger kids responded to their first real pressure this season. I think that they had the best player on the floor in Loomis, but we had the best three through 10 players, and that was the difference.”

Hiland improved to 3-0 on the season, and 2-0 in IVC play.