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Hiland falls to Colorado’s best

By KEVIN LYNCH
Daily Record Staff Writer

BERLIN — The Hiland Hawks had a huge hill to climb, going up against Colorado’s No. 1-ranked team, which featured players 6-foot-4, 6-1, 6-1 and lots of athleticism.

Hiland fell behind early, expended lots of energy trying to get even, but was never able to get over the hump as Regis Jesuit held on for a 46-40 victory over the Hawks, capping off the first day of action at Classic in the Country.

"I think this was a great next step for us," Hiland coach Dave Schlabach said. "That’s why we schedule these games. I looked out there at crunch time and we had three freshmen for most of the fourth quarter. There is not one thing I can complain about. We got looks, but we missed a couple wide open layups. I thought we defended. If one thing goes right during that run in the fourth quarter ..."

The Hawks fell behind by 12 in the first quarter, as Hiland came out shooting cold, but a Brynn Mullet 3-pointer trimmed the lead to 16-7 after the opening eight minutes.

Hiland found its range, or more likely, Sara Keim found her range, dropping three 3-point bombs on the Raiders to trim the lead to 20-17 late in the second stanza.

"Sara continues to give us big minutes," Schlabach said. "She hit a couple big shots early to kind of help keep us in it. I was proud of the group."

Francesca Belibi hit inside, but Kennedy Schlabach connected from the corner to close within 22-20, and the Hawks trailed 24-20 at the half.

"We were in attack mode, but it’s kind of hard with all those trees inside," Kennedy Schlabach said. "We wanted to try and draw fouls, but we played our game, which is the shooting game."

Schlabach swished a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter, but the Hawks couldn’t contain the 6-4 Cahill, who struck inside for seven straight points, including a three-point play to open up a 37-30 lead into the fourth quarter. Cahill scored 15 points to lead the attack for the Raiders.

Hiland had its chances near the end, but the Raiders were too big a hill to overcome.

"I told my staff we’d probably have to shoot 35 3s, because I didn’t think we’d be able to get to the rim a lot," Coach Schlabach said. "We worried about trying to defend their bigs, and Tiffany’s sore and has only been back a few days."

Hiland hit 8 of 27 of its 3-point shots, compared to 3 of 8 for the Raiders. Avery VanSickle drilled a pair and finished with 13 points. Belibi added 11 for the winners (11-2).

Schlabach was the lone double-digit scorer for Hiland with 13 points to go with five rebounds. Keim chipped in nine and Zoe Miller and Mullet each added five for the Hawks, who dipped to 9-3 on the campaign.

"I didn’t see us playing scared," the coach added. "That’s the biggest thing I’ll take from this."