Hiland Lady Hawks head coach Dave Schlabach has always said he’d rather be 10-10 against great competition rather than 20-0 against poor competition.

He certainly got his wish over an 11-day stretch from Jan. 16 to Jan. 27, when his team faced five high-quality opponents, leaving the Lady Hawks exhausted but happy after going through the gauntlet 4-1.

Hiland began their trek with two games at Classic in the Country XIII, the first a 59-46 win over a talented Dayton Carroll club, the second one a 53-47 loss to a hugely athletic GlenOak team. From there it was out of the frying pan and into the fire, when Hiland hosted 2015 Div. III state qualifier Chippewa, a team that was undefeated coming into the CitC. Hiland took care of business, winning 57-50.

They then traveled south to take on a dangerous Ridgewood team, and after trailing through three quarters, pulled out a 50-37 win.

Then came another IVC showdown with Malvern, a tall team with huge hopes of putting themselves in the league’s elite class. The Lady Hawks let a 58-41 lead dwindle to six points before finally putting away Malvern in a 66-57 win.

“Classic to Ridgewood, right to Chippewa and then Malvern. That is a five legitimate games in a very short span of time for us,” said Schlabach. “Five games, 11 days, and all quality opponents. That is a big plus for us to get challenged like that. We need it, and that helps keep us humble.”

What started out a tough game against Malvern Jan. 27 became a big Hiland lead, and finally a game that Hiland had to struggle to put away.

After thrashing Malvern by 30 in Malvern earlier this season, Doug Wackerly’s crew of Hornets had a score to settle, and early on they did well to do that. The first quarter saw Hiland push to an early five-point lead when four different players nailed 3-pointres, but Malvern battled back to within 17-15 on the strength of Sara Loomis and Kelsi Hulit. A late run led by Morgan McMillan gave Hiland a high-scoring 23-17 lead after one quarter.

Into the second quarter, scores by Angela Troyer and Kennedy Schlabach (video) pushed Hiland’s lead to 30-21, and pushed the lead to as high as 15 before a rare five-point trip that saw Hunter martin drill a trey while Loomis was getting fouled under the bucket for two free throws trimmed the lead to 41-33.Hiland then built a 14-point lead which it maintained through the third quarter, leading 58-44.

A quick score for the Lady Hawks and another one later built the lead to 16, and Schlabach was at that point thinking about unloading his bench with four minutes to play.

That was when things turned sour for the Lady Hawks, and the Hornets started to sting.

Martin made two straight steals for easy scores and Loomis scored inside.

Malvern’s pressure was nagging Hiland, and the Lady Hawks took the ball out front to run time with 2:30 to pay. That didn’t work. By the time Martin jumped a Jessica Troyer pass, stole it and went drove for two, Hiland’s lead was down to six.

Hiland did manage to make a couple of free throws late, but the game had gotten much closer than Hiland would have liked.

“That last four minutes went about as bad as they possibly could have gone,” said Schlabach. “We didn’t do anything well during that stretch, and they came after us.”

Wackerly said the comeback was a huge positive for his team to take back with them, after getting thumped by 30 earlier this season.

“I liked our energy and our comeback,” said Wackerly. “I don’t think we have ever done anything like that against Hiland before. “We still had too many turnovers, and they weren’t even turnovers against their press. They were mistakes on our part on offense. But the way we passed the ball and got everyone involved, and the way we picked it up late was very encouraging.”

Wackerly credited Martin’s hustle for the late spurt, as the guard was all over the court. He said he tried to substitute more often and Malvern did a better job of closing out on Hiland’s deadly shooters on the perimeter.

Now at 15-4, Malvern has lost twice to both Hiland and Garaway. Wackerly said that should they run the table and end the regular season 18-4, it will put them in the mix for a good deed come sectional play.

“We’ve had a good season,” said Wackerly. “We were really good at times tonight. We just need to be a little more consistent to get over the top against teams like Hiland and Garaway.”

Hulit poured in 20 to pace Malvern in scoring, while Loomis added 14 points and 15 rebounds and Martin scored 10 points, adding six rebounds, six assists and three steals. Tara Tucci also scored 11 for Malvern.

Hiland was led by Schlabach’s 22, including four 3-pointers , and she also dished out six assists. Angela Troyer (video) had a nice night, with 15 points, six rebounds and six steals. McMillen added 14 points, five boards and four steals in just 18 minutes. Brittany Miller returned to produce a seven-point, four-rebound, four-assist night.

Hiland improved to 16-3, and Schlabach said, despite the hectic schedule, that his team needs to be more fundamental.

“We are much more skilled than we showed tonight,” said Schlabach. “We didn’t take care of the ball, and some of that is my fault. We have to all understand exactly what we want to be doing with the ball late like that, and Malvern took advantage of it. Hopefully by next week, when we have everyone back and healthy, and we get kids back into the flow, we will have those things down.”