By The-Daily-Record.com
BERLIN — It is no surprise Hiland sophomore Zoe Miller is the leading scorer for the Hawks this season. Scoring is in her genes.
Miller, also the Hawks' top rebounder, is preparing for her first trip to the state tournament, something her mother, Christa (Wells) Miller, one of the most prolific scorers in Ohio history, never got to do during her illustrious career at West Holmes.
Hiland meets Columbus Africentric Thursday at 1 p.m. in a Div. III state semifinal at Ohio State's Schottenstein Center.
Wells scored more than 2,000 points while starring for the West Holmes Knights in the late 1980s and early '90s, but year after year, West Holmes would hit a stumbling block in the tournament and the powerhouse squads coached by the venerable Jack Van Reeth would be denied a trip to Columbus.
Christa's older sister Carrie, who played point guard alongside Lisa Cline during West Holmes' glory days in the mid-1980s, and her younger sister Cynthia were on West Holmes teams that went to state.
But playing at state wasn't in the cards for Christa, who was an emotional wreck Saturday watching her daughter and her teammates obliterate Wheelersburg to earn another trip to the state tournament for Hiland.
"I am so glad for her," Miller said through tears during the regional postgame celebration on the court at Logan High School. "These kids have worked so hard. They deserve to go to state."
Zoe is aware of her mom's history on the hardwoods, but she said it's not anything she really thinks about.
Zoe Miller isn't the only player who's mom was a great high school hoopster.
Freshmen Aila Miller's mom Jill (Yoder) Miller was a dominating post player for the Hawks during their first state championship season of 2000. She finished with more than 1,000 career points and went on to play collegiately at Wheeling Jesuit.
Zoe Miller's cousin, freshman Tegan Harris, is the daughter of Cynthia (Wells) Harris. Cynthia was a sharpshooting guard for West Holmes, which went to state in 1995 but lost to eventual champion Roger Bacon in the semifinals.
Hiland head coach Dave Schlabach is looking forward to the continued development of the younger players. He sees great things down the road for them.
And no look at family trees would be complete without branching to include the Schlabachs.
Dave Schlabach has won 624 games as coach of the Hawks, an astounding average of 22 wins per season during his 28 years on the sidelines. His daughter, 2018 HHS grad Kennedy, was an All-Ohio guard playing for her father and is now a freshman on the team at Ohio Dominican.
Schlabach's younger brother Mark has an equally impressive ledger as coach of the Hiland boys. He has won 309 games through 14 years, equalling his brother's average of 22 wins per season.
That's an amazing 933 wins between the two brothers.
And finally, the Shetler family is the only family with siblings playing on both the girls and boys teams, which is kind of amazing considering how small Hiland's student population is (244 students).
Kendra Shetler is a junior on the girls team and her brother Chris is a freshman on the boys team.
