LOGAN — Hiland put on a defensive clinic and a 3-point shooting display that lifted it one step closer toward another state tournament appearance.
Forcing Cardington-Lincoln into more turnovers than points and dropping 14 3-point bombs on the Pirates, the Hawks cruised to a 69-31 thumping of Cardington-Lincoln in the girls Division III Logan Regional semifinals.
The win advances the 26-1 Hawks to the regional championship game on Saturday at Logan High School, which begins at 1:30 p.m.
Brynn Mullet set the tone early, and Kyli Horn delivered the knockout punch as Hiland jumped out to a 6-0 lead on back-to-back triples by Mullet.
The Hawks came up empty on their next four trips down the floor, and the Pirates got a pair of free throws from 6-foot-3 Casey Bertke and a three-point play from 6-1 Hannah Wickline to pull within 6-5.
That’s when the second wave hit.
Horn drilled a triple and Aila Miller and Zoe Miller scored inside and the Hawks held a 13-7 lead. Kelsey Swihart stuck back a miss and Mullet swished her third triple and Hiland led 18-9. Morgan Yoder added a buzzer-beating 3 and Hiland led 21-11 after one period of play.
“Brynn and Kyli really got us going,” Hiland coach Dave Schlabach said. “It’s nice to bring a kid like Kyli off the bench. Our kids know, the next game, they might not get but one or two shots, when Zoe will have to take 20. Tonight those two were going to get a ton of shots because of the situation and matchups.
“It was 6-5 for about two and a half minutes there, and all of a sudden I look up and it’s 21-11,” Schlabach added. “We were looking for a run and trying to figure people out. I was real happy with our pressure. We had to adjust to a couple of really good big kids tonight. I thought our guard pressure was really, really good.”
Krista Troyer scored a stick back, Zoe Miller added two free throws, and then Horn nailed back-to-back 3-pointers for a 31-15 lead. Mullet hit another 3, then Horn and the Hawks had a 37-15 lead. Troyer swished a bomb from the corner to give Hiland a 41-17 lead at intermission.
“When your two All-Ohians have seven of your first 40 points, that makes us a really good team,” Schlabach said. “We’ve got a lot of kids who are capable of scoring.”
Hiland drilled four more triples in the third quarter to extend its lead past 35 and force a running clock for the remainder of the game.
The Pirates bowed out with a 24-2 record.
“Their pressure killed us, and we caved under pressure,” Cardington-Lincoln coach Jamie Edwards said. “We had some good signs when we broke the pressure and got some looks, but for the most part, their pressure got to us, we got a little frustrated, and that led to more turnovers.
“We calmed down a little in the second half, but we were down 20 and 30, you tend to play a little safer then,” Edwards added. “We’ll learn from this. It’s the kind of style we’ll try to play next year. That’s a really good team.”
Mullet paced the Hiland attack with 15 points on five triples, and Horn added 14, including four makes from beyond the arc. Morgan Yoder also chipped in 14 points with four triples as well.
Hiland finished with 14 3-pointers and only nine from inside the arc. Swihart had three of them for her six points. Zoe Miller finished with eight.
“We felt like we had to shoot it well early because they do a really good job with their 1-3-1 zone,” Schlabach said. “They make you shoot the 3s, and if you don’t hit them, it’ll be a grind because they have big enough kids to rebound the basketball. Their 1-3-1 concerned me the most because they’re long, and you’re not getting into the paint much. So you’ve either got to score off the 3-point shots or your pressure. And we can’t press unless we score.”
Hiland will face Seaman North Adams (22-4) for a trip to Columbus and a berth in the final four.
