Hiland wins a spirited battle 63-42. Lady Hawks in control most of way. Hiland didn't help themselves by poor 3 point shooting, but they did plenty enough to win.
Jess Stutz had a great game and Noelle and Hilary were too much, even though Yoder struggled some with her outside scoring.
Carly Clark was so good for Strasburg. She's a class act and I will miss watching her play. I thought PG Hayden did a nice job considering the pressure she was under all night. I like their little frosh guard, Columbo. She's going to be a good one.
Got a little chippy at one point with a Lady Hawk throwing some obvious elbows and connecting (but no calls). Don't see that very often with those girls. Asked her afterward and she said she was being pinched constantly on the abdomen and side while being defended. Confucius' 13th law of basketball says, "Player who play dirty gets to dine on cuisine of olecranon." The pinching stopped after 2 meals.
Coach Bonifant is quoted in the Daily Record as saying he enjoys playing Hiland because it shows them what they have to do to improve their program. I think that's the right attitude, but he also said that they are "closing the gap" on Hiland. Not sure about that. The only reason they were competitive in that game at all (Clark) just played her last game and is taking her 20 points with her. They have closed the gap on Garaway, but they lost to Hiland by an average of 27 points this year. On the other hand, much of that 27 was due to an early season blowout when they weren't playing well. Coach S said that he thinks Strasburg is a top 10 DIV program, so they are doing something right there.
Now let's see what the boys can do tonight. I have a feeling they have righted the ship and are going to come through against the male Tigers.