Hiland’s strong 4th quarter lifts them over the visiting CVCA Royals.

You can be great, and still not win. That was certainly the case tonight. The Royals went toe to toe with the mighty Hawks, but 27 turnovers proved to be too much to overcome. The Royals had the lead for 80% of the game, they answered most every time the Hawks made a run. Gia Casalinova gave the Royals their last lead 39-38 with an off balance layup with 4:20 left in the game, that’s when the Hawks put the clamps down and ended the game on a 14-3 run.

CVCA started hot, very hot. With threes from Casalinova, Shaffer and Hajdu early they took a 9-2 lead and forced Coach Schlabach to call a timeout. Hiland answered with a run of their own that gave them their first lead of the game at 11-9 on a Kyli Horn triple. The Royals didn’t allow it to snowball after a Pearce layup and the first of three Kylie Bettinger right corner three’s gave the visitors a 14-13 advantage after one.

Defense was king in the second quarter when neither team could get anything going. Bettinger knocked down two more triples from almost the same exact spot underneath the Reese Center big screen. Those were the only points of the quarter for the Royals, but Hiland didn’t manage any more themselves, until Brynn Mullet knocked down a loose ball three as the buzzer sounded. That was her second of the quarter, and without a doubt the most energy from the Hawks all night.

It seemed like the Hawks were flat, sure they weren’t shooting it well, but the blue uniforms seemed to get most fo the loose balls, and almost all of the high energy plays that made the parents and benches explode. Still yet, they persisted. Casalinova had a fantastic second half as she had nine in the third alone, 14 in the half, 17 total for a game high.

The Royals went cold at the worst time and the turnovers started to catch up to them. They held a one point lead going into the last period, but the Hawks got hot and finished off CVCA 52-42. After losing junior Aila Miller to an injury early in the 4th Hiland picked it up and made sure they got to share a win with her in the locker room.

Zoe Miller led the Hawks with 15 points while adding 8 rebounds. Aila Miller had a game high 9 board in only 13 minutes of action. Kelsey Swihart added 9 points and 6 boards for the Hawks while Kyli Horn scored 10.

The CVCA Royals came in with a lot of confidence after knocking off Hoban not too long ago, they left with a ton of respect and hopefully even more confidence…