They will have the chance to avenge that loss and reach their goal of a Div. IV state title after knocking off Glouster Trimble 82-45 in Saturday's regional final.

"This feels good," Leah said of the regional win.  "We've waited for this for a year.  We wanted to go back (to state) and we want to win it."

It was a late second-quarter spurt by Launa that got the Hawks rolling and allowed them to win going away.

With the Hawks clinging to a 23-21 lead late in the second quarter, the Hiland floor general took the game over, as she often has this season, scoring eight straight points and lifting the Hawks to a 36-26 halftime lead.  That spark spread into an offensive explosion as Hiland blew the game open in the second half.

"Launa played big when she had to," said Hiland coach Dave Schlabach.  "She's a senior, but continues to amaze us. (Trimble) brought it to two and Launa called her own number twice."

Hochstetler began her stretch with a two, then drained consecutive 3-pointers, aided by screens by sister Leah.

"I felt they only had one person out (on the perimeter) and I felt they weren't coming out and guarding that well," Launa said of the Trimble defense during her eight-point spurt.  "I just wanted to try and get something going for the team.  Leah did a good job of setting picks."

The senior point guard ended the game with 13 points and had plenty of help around her in dismantling the Tomcats.  Lindsay Stuckey paced Hiland with 23 points, while Jena Stutzman added 21.  In all, 12 different Hawks contributed to the win.

"We didn't shoot the ball like I'd have like to, but we played a lot of kids and played good defense," said Hiland coach Dave Schlabach.  "I'm proud of our kids.

"Going back to state is an opportunity they've been hoping for since last year."

Along with the offensive outburst, Hiland's defense helped force 16 Trimble turnovers.  The Hawks held Tomcats' leading scorer Jennifer Grandy to 22 points, 13 below her season average.  Her 22 came on 9-of-26 shooting.

"We played six or seven kids on (Grandy), constantly rotating defenders," Schlabach said.  "It was a group effort."

Senior Katie Conn was one of the Hawks that had the task of staying on Grandy and she said the 5-foot-5 junior came as advertised.

"She's a good shooter," Conn said.  "She can hit from anywhere.  Staying on her was a big part of (winning)."

Trimble's plan of trying to slow the game down, to save its rotation of seven kids from wearing down like they did in last year's 57-36 regional semifinal loss to Hiland worked for a little while.

The Hawks led 17-13 after the first quarter.  Trimble pulled to within 23-21 with 2:40 to go in the first half.  That's when Launa Hochstetler took over and sparked the late second-quarter charge the Tomcats could not recover from.

"That barrage of points from Hiland at the end of the second quarter killed us," said Trimble coach Tim Sikorski. "We never came back with an answer to that and that forced us to do things we don't normally do, like press and go man-to-man. That isn't what got us here."

What got Hiland to the regional final and advanced the team to state was the ability to spread the shooting wealth around and not rely on one player.

After Launa Hochstetler got the Hawks going in the second quarter.  Stuckey picked things up for Hiland.

The junior scored nine of her points in a third quarter that saw the Hawks outscore Trimble 24-14 and extend their 11-point lead to 21.

Stutzman drove the nails into Trimble's season with a 13-point fourth quarter.

Hiland will now try to avenge last year's state semifinal loss when it plays Mansfield St. Peter's on Thursday at 6 pm.

"No question our group has a very serious goal in mind and we're going to give it every effort," Schlabach said.  "It's going to be a tremendous challenge in Columbus."