BERLIN — Hiland's pesky, persistent, sometimes oppressive defense stifled virtually every attempt by visiting Hoover to generate any offense in the first half and enabled the Hawks to build a big lead en route an impressive 76-56 victory Wednesday night at the Reese Center in Berlin.

Despite the presence of four sophomores and one junior in the starting lineup, Dave Schlabach's Hawks looked like a veteran squad, forcing 21 Hoover turnovers that Hiland converted into 20 points.

"They're a great team, and they always come at you," said Hoover head coach Abbey Allerding. "Their success on defense is the result of consistent hard work."

Hiland head coach Dave Schlabach was pleased with his team's performance at both ends.

"We played really fast and showed what we are capable of doing," he said. "When you score 46 points in a half against a team like Hoover, you have to be very pleased with that."

Regarding the performance of his young players, Schlabach was not surprised.

"Those kids have been playing together for a long time; three of them saw a lot of action as freshmen," he said. "The great thing about a young lineup is that you just assume those players will continue to get better."

How much better remains to be seen, but if Wednesday night's game is any indication, Hiland will likely continue its tradition of excellence for years to come because the Hawks top three scorers on Wednesday are in just their second season.

Leading the way was sophomore Morgan Yoder with 21 points and eight assists. She was joined by fellow sophomores Kelsey Swihart and Zoe Miller, who had 14 points apiece. Miller also led the team in rebounds with nine.

Hoover was led by junior Peyton Davis with 18 points and senior Annie Roshak with 15 points. The Vikings' top rebounder was sophomore Kate Haubert with 14.

The Hawks set the tone early by outscoring Hoover 20-2 in the opening quarter. With the score tied at 2-2, Hiland proceeded to launch an 18-0 run, highlighted by Yoder's eight points and Miller's four.

In the second quarter, Davis, who registered the only points for the Vikings the first quarter, made the first basket of the second quarter to make it 20-4, but Hoover failed to make up much ground. Yoder and Swihart did most of the damage for Hiland with nine and seven points, respectively, but the Hawks started to sputter late in the half, and it carried over into the third quarter.

The Vikings erupted for 11 straight points and held the Hawks scoreless for the first 4:48 of the second half to pull to within 15 (46-31), but that was as close as they would get. Back-to-back baskets from yet another sophomore, Brynn Mullet, including a long 3-pointer from the top of the key pushed the lead back to 20 (53-33), a margin the Hawks would maintain throughout the final quarter.

Hiland shot 52 percent (33 of 64) from the floor, including 40 percent (8 of 20) from 3-point range. Hoover managed just 39 percent (19 of 49) from the field and just 25 percent (1 of 4) from behind the arc.

The Hawks evened their record at 1-1, as did the Vikings. Hiland is off until Monday when it travels to Sandy Valley.