After facing a pair of state juggernauts in the season's first two games, the Hiland Lady Hawks turned to feasting on Inter-Valley Conference foes, dealing Sandy Valley an 80-33 loss, hammering Indian Valley 76-27 and then dusting off Claymont 69-6.

In the Dec. 3 contest with the Cardinals, Hiland started hot and didn't let off the pedal until it had forged a 50-point lead.

Hiland started with a 23-7 lead through the first quarter and extended the bulge to 47-17 at the half. Another 23-point third period saw the Lady Hawks build their lead to 70-22, and the two teams played to a near-draw in the final period as Hiland coach Dave Schlabach emptied the bench.

Zoe Miller had a monster game for Hiland, pouring in 20 points and racking up 13 rebounds and five steals, all game-highs. Brynn Mullet added 14 points on the strength of four 3-pointers while Krista Troyer scored eight, Kyli Horn added seven and Shelby Miller scored six. Morgan Yoder added five points, five steals and a game-high seven assists. Kelsey Swihart scored seven points, ripped down four boards and tacked on five assists, and Kendra Shetler grabbed nine rebounds.

Karlie Altimore led the Cardinals with 14 points, and Tori Sickafoose added nine. Hiland held a dominating 52-20 rebounding edge on the night.

On their Dec. 5 contest versus the Braves, the Lady Hawks again unleashed a potent offense that saw them roar to a huge early lead.

Hiland once again put together three quarters in which they scored at least 20 points. A huge first period saw Hiland roll to a 20-5 lead, and the game got out of hand in the second quarter when the Lady Hawks geared up for a 27-point effort that led to a 47-16 lead.

The scoring slowed in the third quarter as neither team got much offense going, and Hiland took a 55-20 lead into the final quarter before pouring in 21 points to win by 49.

Hiland placed four players in double figures, led by Mullet's 17 points on the strength of five 3-pointers. Shelby Miller scored 13 points, Zoe Miller added 12 and Aila Miller tacked on 11. Zoe Miller and Aila Miller each collected six boards to pace the Lady Hawks to a 39-20 rebounding edge. While Yoder didn't add much in the way of scoring, she did rack up 11 more assists as she kept teammates more than happy.

Brenlyn Rostad knocked down nine points to lead Indian Valley in scoring with Karissa Bardall adding seven.

On Saturday, Dec. 8 at Hiland High School, the Lady Hawks rolled out a dose of good old-fashioned defense in disposing of Claymont 69-6.

In the contest Hiland did not allow a single point in three of the four quarters in rolling to victory.

Hiland's lead included a 24-0 opening run that lasted into the second period, and that was spearheaded by Zoe Miller, who was unstoppable in the game. Miller rang up 25 points, which included a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe.

No other Lady Hawks player reached double figure, although there was plenty of balanced scoring on the day. Aila Miller added nine points, Shelby Miller tacked on eight, Horn and Mullet each chipped in with six, Yoder and Shetler added five apiece, Swihart added three, and Jalyce Clark rounded out the scoring with two.

The three wins move Hiland to 4-1 on the season.