The Lady Hawks finished last season one win shy of their ultimate goal, leaving the girls hungry and more motivated than ever.

"In my 20 years, I have normally not watched the last game if we lost it," Hiland coach Dave Schlabach said.  "This year, I probably watched that game five or six times.  It got away from us at both ends of the floor; not taking care of the basketball and giving them easy opportunities, and then hurrying ourselves on offense.  It was a good learning experience. for me and our kids.

"Our kids are using (the 55-46 loss to Africentric) as motivation this year, but we're not dwelling on it.  If we had won that game, we wouldn't be tooting our horn thinking that it mattered at this point in time, either," he continued.  "Our kids understand it is a motivating factor, but there is so much basketball to be played before we get another chance."

Hiland returns all but one player from last year's team that finished the season 26-2.

"I don't like to compare groups, but this group is more motivated than any group we've ever had just because of the way things ended last year," Schlabach said.  "They feel like they gave one away.  We play to get that opportunity.  There are no guarantees once you get there.  Those losses are always more motivating."

Karli Mast is the lone player to graduate from last year's team.  She has since taken her talents to Tiffin University.

"Karli wasn't just a shooter, she was a maker," Schlabach said.  "There are plenty of shooters out there, but there aren't very many makers.  It seemed like she hit every open shot.  Obviously, we're going to miss her.  But we feel we've got four or five guards who are better than they were a year ago."

Fortunately for Schlabach, he has five extremely talented seniors returning to lead this year's team.  Four of the five seniors have inked college scholarships.

Hilary Weaver will be playing at Lehigh next year, Noelle Yoder at Bowling Green, and Mykeila Mast and Katelyn Stuckey will play at Ohio Dominican.

"Jessica Stutzman might have been the first to sign if she was healthy," Schlabach said.  "When she plays, she's our best player a lot of nights.  She's that good."

The trio of Weaver, Yoder and Mast give the Lady Hawks an amazingly talented group of guards.

"With Hilary, Noelle and Mykeila, as far as athleticism, this is probably the most athletic three-guard group we've put on the floor in 20 years," Schlabach said.  "And they all have their various skill sets as well.  Those three kids are really athletic.  They can all defend and can score a lot of ways."

Unfortunately, Mast suffered a torn ACL, and she is lost for the season.

Some of the younger players are going to have to step up in her absence.

Senior post player Katelyn Stuckey makes up for her lack of height with strength and heart.

"she plays a lot bigger than 5-10," Schlabach said.

Sophomores McKenzie Miller, Meagan Hall, Hannah Stoneman and Regan Miller all return a year older and a lot better.  Juniors expected to make an impact include Ashley Weaver and Arrianna Schrock.  Freshman Kendra Schlabach had a good preseason and has a shot to get into the mix at some point in time.

"I think we're a lot more mature this year, and we have more kids with more confidence," Schlabach said.  "This year when we go to our bench, kids like McKenzie Miller or Meagan Hall are going to look to score, whereas last year, it was a lot of survival.

"Over the summer, we made some really huge strides," the coach continued.  "We played some really good people and those kids contributed.  I still think it's kids six through 10 that determine the ultimate success of our team.

"I feel like we've got 12, 13 kids fighting for that 10-man rotation.  The practices we've had have been extremely competitive.  We have 19 kids in all, and the majority of those kids can compete," he added.

Nothing is written in stone.

"Everybody knows that everybody's job is on the line every day," Schlabach said.  "It's not a pressure thing; it's a reward thing.  I don't care if you're a freshman or a senior.  Our kids know they are more than welcome to win spots every week.  Our seniors know that because they probably won some spots when they were freshmen.  It keeps the competitive nature."

The goals for Hiland are the same every year: to win the State championship.  But there are other attainable goals along the way.

"We listed 10 team goals and a huge No. 1 was 'Unselfishness'," Schlabach said.  "We have so many kids who can score 20 on any given night.  It can't matter to our kids who is doing the scoring."

The weak Inter-Valley Conference schedule makes it imperative that Hiland faces strong non-conference foes.  And this year's schedule is brutal, including national powers Potter's House Christian Academy and Regina, as well as Mason and West Holmes.

"You are talking about a nationally ranked team in Potter's House, and Regina will probably be in the top 25 nationally as well," Schlabach said.  "We like to really challenge our kids at certain times of the year, and that last week, when we go Regina Thursday and Garaway Saturday, as well as the two games in three days at the Classic (Potter's House and Mason) will be two really big challenges for our kids."

To prepare for such tough opponents, Schlabach goes back to his roots.

"I take the Coach Reese approach, and that's worrying about ourselves," he said.  "We're going to press and shoot the first available shot, and what we lose in size, we make up for in speed and skill.  We'll probably press more this year than we did last year.  We would like to be able to press more, but unfortunately... And then, when you do play people who can handle your pressure, you're not quite ready.  That's why our practices have to be really competitive."

Schlabach sees his Lady Hawks among the top teams in the State, but realizes nothing is guaranteed.

"The Regional final last year was a one-point game with four minutes to go before they (Lutheran East) imploded and we ended up shooting a lot of free throws," Schlabach said.  "To start the year off, Lutheran East and Harvest Prep are the two best teams in Division IV. It's a senior-laden Regional in our region.

"I don't want our underclassmen or their parents to think that State championships and college scholarships just happen in the Hiland program," he continued.  "Our kids are getting those scholarships because they have given and extreme effort, not because of our program.  I think our underclassmen sometimes assume that it's going to happen.  These kids have earned it.  They have worked really, really hard.  If we weren't so demanding, obviously our numbers would be greater.  We don't want to be an intramural program.  We think we can teach the kids a thing or two about hard work and discipline.  That's a good thing."