Hiland Lady Hawks head basketball coach Dave Schlabach said his team was in a really good place right now.

Apparently that place is about 19-feet from the bucket.

Hiland buried 13-of-20 pointers in its 88-43 win over Ridgewood Saturday, January 28, and according to Schlabach, the reasoning behind the success is fairly simple.

“It’s because we shared the ball so well,” Schlabach said of the sharpshooting success. “Our double pitches created open shots and we penetrated and got some great looks off of that too. I thought we really moved the ball well today and we were totally unselfish. I was very impressed with our passing.”

Audrey Tingle gave Ridgewood its only lead at 3-2 on a 3-pointer, before Hiland reeled off nine straight to take an 11-3 advantage. In that start Angela Troyer scored six points and Sara Keim hit a trey.

Tingle hit a pair of free throws to ebb the tied, but only momentarily. Hiland went on a 12-2 run to end t he first quarter, with Kennedy Schlabach and Troyer burying threes and Tiffany Weaver scoring on a nice and-one.

The second quarter saw the Generals creep back to within 32-19 on the strength of Autumn Brown’s play, but again the Lady Hawks responded with a run, this one another 9-2 binge led by Morgan McMillen and Troyer.

Leading 43-26 at the half, Hiland came out of the locker room hoisting threes, and making them. Hiland made 3-pointers on four of its first five possessions, getting two from Schlabach and one apiece from Keim and Troyer. Troyer scored on the fifth possession, giving Hiland a 59-30 lead. Tingle scored, but buckets from Keim, McMillen and two free throws from Weaver made the score 65-32 heading into the fourth quarter.

One more big run of 13-3 for Hiland, led by McMillen’s seven points, was more than enough to put this one in the win column for the 16th win against one loss for Hiland.

While the big three of Troyer, who scored 22, and Schlabach and McMillen, both of whom netted 19, continued their onslaught on the scorebook, the continued rise of Sara Keim is becoming something Schlabach has enjoyed watching.

Keim is the Lady Hawks’ first guard off the bench, and her scoring ability allows the lady Hawks to continue to put up points when any of the four other guards head to the bench.

“We need her, and she is playing extremely well,” Schlabach said of Keim.

Another player who won’t show up in the box score but did a nice job was Jessica Troyer. She had the task of shadowing All-Ohioan Audrey Tingle, who is a high-powered dynamo who can score big. Troyer did a nice job of hounding Tingle all game, despite getting two quick fouls.

“Jess did a great job of overcoming a tough first quarter,” Schlabach said. “She didn’t let that affect the rest of her game, and I was glad to see that. We keep telling the kids just because you have a bad first quarter it doesn’t have to ruin your game, and she showed that. I think our kids are maturing and learning.”

Keim added nine points in victory, Weaver scored eight and Melissa Hostetler notched six. Weaver and McMillen led the way to a Hiland 31-20 rebounding advantage, grabbing seven and six, respectively, while Weaver continued her assault on the record books, collecting four blocked shots for the second straight game. She now is far and away the program’s season block leader at 27, well past the former record of 17.

As for the 3-point shooting, it was quite the display in long-range accuracy. Both McMillen and Angela Troyer were 3-of-3, Schlabach hit 4-of-7 and Keim canned 2-of-4, while Kim Miller nailed her only attempt from downtown.

It was another fine team effort for Hiland, as it has all but sewn up another Inter-Valley Conference championship, and their head coach said he likes the level of play his team is playing with as the regular season nears an end.

“Mentally, our kids are in a really good place right now,” Schlabach said of his Lady Hawks. “They have worked through some things and they are all in. They care about each other, they are trying to help each other and we are all working hard to get better.”