Hiland girls shoot for fifth state title today

By Roger Metzger
Times-Reporter.com sports writer

To win their fifth state championship, the Hiland High School girls basketball team will have to beat the defending champs.

Top-ranked Hiland (28-1) will play No. 4 Waterford (25-3) this afternoon for the 2017 Division IV crown at Value City Arena on the campus of Ohio State University.

Tipoff is set for a little after 2 p.m.

Ironically, both teams made it to the title game on last-second, game-winning shots.

Junior Kennedy Schlabach buried a 3-pointer as time expired to lift Hiland to a thrilling 44-41 win over Ottoville in one semifinal, while junior Hayley Duff's layup with a tick left gave Waterford a scintillating 37-35 win over Jackson Center in the earlier semifinal.

"I have a lot of respect for Jerry ((Waterford head coach Jerry Close)," said Schlabach. "We're good friends. It's going to be a great battle. The kids are excited."

Close said his youthful Wildcats are ready to defend their title.

"We've been here the past two years and are the defending state champions, but at mid-season it didn't seem possible that we were going to get back," said Close. "We've battled through injuries and the kids have matured. We graduated four seniors, two of which were 1,000-point scorers."

Waterford's lone senior, Jillian McCutcheon, went down with an ACL injury in Week 6 and has been sidelined for the rest of the season, but the rest of the team is healthy and ready to go.

The Wildcats were 12 seconds from being ousted in their district title game, but rallied late and recorded a 41-40 overtime win over South Webster.

"It's probably the best thing that happened to us," said Close. "That changed the focus and intensity of our team."

The Hawks didn't play their best against Ottoville, but the Lady Green had something to do with that.

"That was a great team we played," said Schlabach of the Hawks semifinal clash with Ottoville. "We felt the first two minutes of the fourth quarter would determine if we were going to stay in the game or not."

It did as Hiland played well during that period and actually had a three-point lead before Schlabach's' daughter's heroics.

"She's shot a million times in the gym and to see all that hard work pay off makes it all worthwhile," said the elder Schlabach. "It's something she'll always remember."

"I coached 20 some years before my daughter showed up and I've really enjoyed it," added Schlabach of coaching Kennedy. "She takes the brunt of my bad coaching days for sure and is important to our group."

Junior forward Ali Kern led Waterford's win with 17 points and Duff added 10. Juniors Hannah Duff, Megan Ball and Rachel Adams are the other starters for the Wildcats, while junior Morgan Lang and sophomores Ashley Offenberger and Emily Kern are key reserves.

Waterford, located in Washington Country near Marietta, is making its third consecutive appearance in the final four.

In the state semifinal, senior Angela Troyer, the Division IV state Player of the Year, led Hiland in scoring with 18 points. Schlabach added 15 and junior Morgan McMillen chipped in 11.

They were the only three Hiland players to score.

Senior Jessica Troyer and sophomore Tiffany Weaver complete the Hawks starting five, while seniors Isabelle Fowler and Melissa Hoststetler along with junior Sara Keim and freshman Krista Troyer provide valuable minutes off the bench.