Daily Record Sports Writer
COLUMBUS — For one of the very few times this season, the Hiland girls basketball team had to dig deep.
Coach Dave Schlabach couldn't make up his mind postgame whether to call it grit, attitude, know-how, or a combination thereof that spurred the Hawks to a dramatic 44-41 victory over Ottoville in a Div. IV state semifinal at The Ohio State University's Jerome Schottenstein Center.
After trailing for the better part of three-plus quarters on Thursday night, Kennedy Schlabach's buzzer-beating 3-pointer across from the Hiland bench lifted the Hawks to one of their most memorable wins in their state record 15th Final Four appearance.
"I think it was purely a case of these girls, who have worked so hard for the past year, and their entire careers, after our devastating loss in the regional that ended our season last year, that they just refused to lose," Schlabach said. "I'm so proud of these kids, as I'm sure every coach is that brings their team here, but to overcome the adversity we faced tonight it's just a special win."
The top-ranked Hawks, now 28-1, will take on defending state champion Waterford in Saturday's 2 p.m. title game. The Wildcats (25-3) defeated Jackson Center 37-35 in Thursday's first semifinal despite squandering a 32-18 lead with 4:11 to play. Hayley Duff's drive and lay-in at the buzzer catapulted Waterford into its third consecutive championship game.
The Waterford-Jackson Center contest, however, paled in comparison to the dramatics the Hawks and Lady Green provided inside the Value City Arena.
Trailing by as many as 10 points (32-22) late in the third period, the Hawks began whittling away at the Ottoville (24-4) lead and eventually pulled even with the Lady Green at 32-32, the game's first tie since the two teams were deadlocked at 12-12 early in the second period, on the second of back-to-back 3s from Schlabach with 5:51 left in regulation.
An Angela Troyer old-fashioned 3-point play with 3:38 remaining gave Hiland its first lead of the night at 37-36. The Hawks then stretched the margin to 39-36 a possession later on another Troyer bucket, part of her game-high 18 point performance. Hiland put just three players into the scoring column on Thursday, with Schlabach adding 15 and Morgan McMillen 11.
"Angela did what she has done so many times for us this year, and that's to step to the forefront late in a game, and she showed why she's the Div. IV Player of the Year," Schlabach said. "She not only made some big baskets, but she did a great job on their big girl (Bridget Landin), even though she gave up a lot of size. Jess Troyer did a great job on their point guard (Brooke Mangas), who can really play the game and held her to just two points. Even though we struggled to put the ball in the basket at times, we still got after them defensively."
The Lady Green was far from done, though, as a pair of Landin free throws knotted the score at 39-39 with 45.7 seconds left after the Hawks misfired on the front end of three consecutive 1-and-1 attempts.
But Troyer drilled a jumper in the lane on Hiland's next trip down the floor to give the Hawks a 41-39 advantage with 33 ticks remaining.
"I told Angie in the huddle during the timeout we called after Landon made the second of her free throws, to get the ball and 'rack it'" Schlabach said. "When we tell her that, I guarantee you she's going to do something with the basketball and she did."
After Ottoville's third attempt at inbounding the ball under its basket with 7.8 seconds left, Landin was again fouled going to the basket and promptly made both free throws to tie the contest at 41-41, setting up Schlabach's last-second heroics.
Hiland inbounded the ball to McMillen following Landon's second free throw, and the 5-8 junior quickly navigated through, and around, a pair of Lady Green defenders before finding a wide-open Schlabach in the corner, and, as they say, the rest is history.
Schlabach found nothing but the bottom of the net as the clock struck zero that sent the Hiland bench, and its faithful, into a wild celebration, and the Hawks into Saturday's final with a fifth state title on the line.
"I knew I had just a split-second to get the shot off, but I honestly thought Morgan was going to shoot it," Kennedy Schlabach said. "I've always dreamed of hitting a shot like that to win a game this big, but I never thought in my wildest dreams that I'd ever get an opportunity to do it. We always work on getting our shots off faster in practice, and to watch it go through was like a dream come true."
Hiland converted just 14 of its 38 field goal attempts, and only 5 of 17 3-pointers, but forced Ottoville into a season-high 22 turnovers, many coming during the Hawks' fourth-quarter comeback.
"We knew coming in that Ottoville was going to be a challenge, and I think they're the best team we've faced all season just because of their depth and discipline, and how well-coached they are," coach Schlabach said. "Most teams would have folded when we trailed by 10 and couldn't find the bottom of the basket, but our girls kept believing and battling. We'll have to clean a few things up before Saturday, but we'll be ready. All our girls have thought about for more than a year now is playing for a state championship and now we have that chance."
Landin led Ottoville with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while McMillen led the Hawks with four rebounds, with Schlabach adding four assists for the Hawks.
Ottoville finished its night 15 of 33 from the field (45 percent), with the Lady Green winning the battle on the boards 27-19.
