The Saints scored the first point of the game on a free throw by Alexi Abbas.  That lead, along with any chance of an upset would be short-lived, as the Hawks went on a 32-0 run that extended into the second quarter.

The only thing in doubt after that was what the final margin of victory would be for the Hawks.  That turned out to be 85-27 as the Hiland, offense and defense never let up.

"The last three games, I thought we've played hard," said Hiland coach Dave Schlabach.  "We're starting to look more comfortable offensively and starting to shoot the ball better.  We had 28 3-pointers in the two games prior to this one, so shots are starting to fall in.

"We've been shooting about 55 to 60 percent every night.  A lot of that comes off our pressure and getting easy layups."

None of that changed against the Saints, as the Hawks shot at a 36-of-70 clip (51.4 percent).  The easy points came about with Hiland stealing the ball 28 times and scoring 43 points off 35 TCC turnovers.

Hiland set the tone for the game early, closing out the first quarter on a 23-0 run.  Hiland shot 10-of-19 in the period, while the Saints could not find the hoop on eight tries.

"That first quarter we let the clock run, we didn't foul and we took the legs out of them," Schlabach said.  "I thought our bench came in and did some nice things."

The Hawks continued pouring it on in the second quarter, outscoring TCC 28-6 and taking a 51-7 lead into the intermission.

Hiland had a commanding 69-11 lead by the end of the third quarter.

In running away with the victory, the Hawks were led by Lindsay Stuckey and Leah Hochstetler, who took turns dismantling the Saints' defense.

Stuckey got the Hiland offense going, scoring 12 of her game-high 26 points during Hiland's first-quarter run.  Leah Hochstetler took over in the second quarter, draining two of her four 3s and scoring 10 of 19 points in the period.  Stuckey regained the hot hand in the fourth quarter, finishing off her night as well as the Saints with a seven-point stanza.

"My philosophy for 13 years has been to feed the hot hand," Schlabach said.  "If a kid starts to score, we want to continue to go to her.  It's a confidence thing.  I think when a kid's feeling good and hits one or two we want to try and give her the ball again.  Our kids understand that, too, to give the ball to the kid with the hot hand."

Hiland's players showed their understanding of feeding the offensive threat, as the Hawks post their third straight game with more than 20 assists.  Launa Hochstetler contributed seven of the Hawks' 24 assists, while Jena Stutzman dished out five and Krista Beechy four.

Along with the big offensive showings from Stuckey and Leah Hochstetler.  Hiland received 13 points from Launa Hochstetler and saw a 10-point effort from Beechy.  Hiland outrebounded the Saints 34-18, with Stuckey leading the way with 7 and Stutzman and Lydia Miller grabbing five each.