Hiland ends 10-day gauntlet with another quality W

By PAUL MONEY
holmescountyTICKET.com

A lot has happened in the last 10 days.

Johnny Football has played six quarters in the NFL, families dug out their National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation DVD, husbands flew to jewelry stores in a last-ditch effort to find the perfect gift for their spouse and computers around the world got hijacked.

For the Hiland Lady Hawks, their last 10 days have been a whirlwind of rivalry games against legitimate State final four contenders.

First up was the Div. II reigning State champs, the West Holmes Lady Knights, and they knocked them off in the Reese Center Dec. 13 by the score of 53-40.

Up next, in a Dec. 17 showdown, it was a key 66-58 IVC win over the extremely talented Garaway Lady Pirates in a game that saw Megan Beachy step up and pop in 25 points to put Hiland atop the conference for the time being. And in the last game of a 10-day gauntlet against three stellar teams, Hiland defended its way to a 45-28 victory over Carrollton in Berlin Dec. 22.

Mission complete. The Lady Hawks were victorious in all three contests, all of which boasted March-like atmospheres.

“Incredible 10 day stretch,” said Hiland’s leader, coach Dave Schlabach. “We had this 10 day stretch circled with West Holmes, Garaway and Carrollton. We think two of those three teams could be in Columbus and the only reason they all might not be there is because Carrollton and West Holmes could meet. Those are quality wins. With the group that we had at the beginning of the season, you questioned whether or not these would be wins, but our kids believe in their defense.”

Helping thwart Carrollton (5-2) was junior Brittany Miller, who had the task of being the shadow of the Warriors’ top scorer. Miller was able to hold the high-scoring Carrollton junior Ali Poole to zero points on the night.

That’s right, zero.

“Brittany holding Ali Poole scoreless was an amazing effort,” said Schlabach. “Britt combines strength and basketball smarts. She takes away what players do best and she’s actually still working her way back as far as in shape-wise. She makes our defense go.”

The Lady Hawks’ defense was a major facet to the match-up against the Warriors, since both teams struggled to hit shots from the outside in the first half.

However, not straining to find the bottom of the basket early was Hiland senior Rachel Horn. Horn propelled Hiland to a 15-8 lead after one quarter, dropping in nine points for her squad in the opening stanza.

“She looked very under control tonight and confident,” said Schlabach about Horn. “We usually have our first quarter rotation mapped out and she is usually out in about three minutes. That’s one of the few times that I have let a kid stay in there.”

Carrollton then took its turn laying down the defense, holding the Lady Hawks to just three second quarter points. Cailee Husted hit two straight jumpers just outside the paint to get Carrollton within one point at 15-14 with just over four minutes to play in the second quarter. Rachel Devine then drilled a 3-pointer with just over one minute to play in the half to give the Warriors their only lead of the game at 18-17.

The two teams went into the half knotted at 18.

“The game was right where we wanted it at halftime,” said Carrollton coach Craig Rogers. “Our zone kept the pressure on them while containing them as much as we could. They don’t have as many shooters as in the past. We keyed on a couple players, but didn’t get as many rebounds as we hoped.”

Hiland won the rebounding battle despite being out-sized once again. The Lady Hawks had 30 boards to Carrollton’s 24.

Coming out of the halftime break was a stretch of the game that definitely factored into the outcome, and it was in a good way for Hiland. The Lady Hawks scored the first five points of the half on a Horn three and a Megan Beachy jumper to push the lead right back to five points for Hiland at 23-18. It was the defense leading the charge for Hiland as the Lady Hawks forced three turnovers on the first three possessions of the half.

“We always stress out of the halftime how important the first three minutes are,” said Rogers. “We didn’t have that intensity.”

With Hiland leading 27-24 with just five seconds left in the third quarter, freshman Kennedy Schlabach made a not-so-normal 3-pointer. Schlabach, the Lady Hawks’ point guard, launched an off-balance heave from beyond the arc that banked in to give Hiland momentum rolling into the fourth.

On a night in which Hiland struggled to put the ball in the basket, it was a welcomed bucket.

“We shot, as a team, very poorly, but I thought we took some good shots,” said Schlabach. “It was just one of those nights that it was going to take a banked in 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter to loosen us up.”

The buzzer beater helped Schlabach for sure, as she went on to outscore the Warriors 9-4 in the final period. Six of the nine points for Schlabach came from the foul line as she was a cool 6-for-6 late in game.

Schlabach would lead the Hawks with 15 points on the night and Horn finished with 14. Beachy would just miss double digits with eight. Miller’s responsibilities on defense with Poole kept her occupied, but didn’t stop her from dishing out seven assists.

The Warriors were also led in the scoring column by a freshman. Guard Mikayla Poole had eight points for Carrollton, but she would foul out in the fourth quarter. Husted and Devine each helped her out with five apiece.

Coach Rogers knows that this game will help them when they come back for Classic in the Country and when they continue their own tough, regular season schedule.

“This was a tournament atmosphere against a tournament team,” said Rogers. “We just have to play for four quarters better. With Hiland this week, Garaway next week and then West Holmes the following Monday we have tried to put ourselves in a position that when it comes to the postseason we are not seeing anything we haven’t already seen.”

The Warriors will take on Tipp City Tippecanoe at the Classic Sunday, Jan. 18 at 1:40 p.m. They also have North Canton Hoover left on their regular season schedule to prepare them for March.

For the Lady Hawks, it has felt like March already over the past 10 days during this stretch in December. Schlabach hopes these signature wins carry over all the way to tournament time.

“I think there are a lot of teams in the area that have great records, but don’t get a quality win,” said Schlabach. “Our kids know that it’s not going to count for anything when it’s tournament time, but it is going to give us confidence that we have beaten some really good teams.”

And it took the Lady Hawks just a matter of 10 days to pocket three stupendous victories.