Daily Record Sports Writer
BERLIN — Following its loss to GlenOak in the Classic in the Country finale, then having to rally from behind to defeat Ridgewood on Saturday, Hiland girls basketball coach Dave Schlabach wasn’t quite sure how his squad would respond in Monday night’s clash against state-ranked Chippewa.
Safe to say, the Hawks rebounded in a big way.
Kennedy Schlabach scored a game-high 18 points and Hiland (15-3) dominated Chippewa on the glass in its 57-50 non-league victory over the Chipps at Hiland’s Perry Reese Jr. Community Center. Ashley Richardson led the Chipps with 16 points.
Hiland came into the contest ranked third in the latest Div. IV AP state poll, while Chippewa was third in Div. III.
“We spent a little bit of time talking about rebounding these last few days,” Schlabach said. “We got outrebounded in our last two games, and with Chippewa having three girls 6-foot or taller we didn’t have a chance unless we got after it on the boards.
“Our girls responded with maybe the best rebounding performance we’ve had in my 25 years here. It was strictly effort.”
Morgan McMillen, playing in just her second game of the season and getting her first start in place of Brittany Miller, who sat out the game with illness, scored 14 points for the Hawks and Angela Troyer added 11.
McMillen and Melissa Hostetler each grabbed nine caroms, while Troyer chipped in with six boards and Schlabach five for the Hawks, who outrebounded Chippewa (15-3) by a whopping 41-23. Hiland converted 10 of its offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points for the game.
Although the Chipps lead early at 11-7 (7:43 mark of the second period), benefitting from Ashley Richardson’s six points, Hiland reclaimed the lead at 13-11 on a Sara Keim 3-pointer and never trailed again.
Hiland went on a 12-0 run over the next four minutes to grab a 19-11 advantage, and eventually led 24-15 at the break.
“We dug a big hole, but most of that was due to the fact we didn’t match Hiland’s physicality in the second quarter, and we got beat on the boards, too,” Chippewa coach Denny Schrock said, whose team dropped their third decision in five games, all at the Reese Center. “But, you’ve heard me say that before. In our losses, we just haven’t handled the physical part of the game.
“Have we played an unbelievably difficult non-league schedule? Yes. But, that’s why we’re playing these types of games, to get better and make us more prepared for tournament time. We certainly didn’t quit playing tonight, though. We challenged our girls at the half and they responded.”
Hiland led the entire third period, but Chippewa drained five 3-pointers in the stanza, two each from Jamie Sammons and Lexi Karovic, as the Chipps trimmed the deficit to 33-32 at one point late in the frame before Hiland took a 37-34 lead to the fourth.
“Chippewa made a run, and we knew they would, but our girls answered with a basket when we needed them,” Schlabach said. “Some of our biggest points in the quarter, and for the game, came after an offensive rebound. Angela got a stickback from one, then Kennedy made a three-pointer off a missed free throw that put us up 37-32.
“And, we did a good job of keeping Ashley (Richardson) from getting the basketball. When she gets it on the low block it’s all over with, so we wanted to help off of their other girls, and even played some zone briefly. Our ability to hit the glass and keep Richardson from scoring for two quarters were the biggest factors in the ballgame.”
After Karovic’s free throw cut the Hiland lead to 37-35 on the first possession of the final frame, McMillen’s basket gave the Hawks a 39-35 lead, and the Chipps never pulled closer than three (43-40) the rest of the way.
Hiland’s biggest lead of the night came at 51-42 on an Angela Troyer three-point play with 3:08 remaining.
“There’s no question we have to get the ball more consistently to Ashley, but also, we are starting to get all of our pieces healthy and on the floor, too,” Schrock said. “Lexi had her breakout game of the season tonight (9 points, 5 rebounds), after missing games to a knee injury, and that’s going to make a big difference for us in the last few weeks. We’ll recover from tonight, and we’ll be absolutely ready to go on Thursday against Smithville.”
Hiland finished the night 20 of 51 from the floor for 39 percent, while knocking down 7 of 26 3-pointers (26 percent).
Chippewa converted 18 of 48 shots (37 percent) and 7 of 21 for 33 percent from beyond the arc.
