UHRICHSVILLE — The Union Local Lady Jets saw their season come to an end Wednesday evening at the hands of traditional powerhouse Hiland by a 65-26 score on the floor of Claymont High School in an Ohio Division III District Semifinal.

“We had a pretty good year,” Union Local head coach Rob Barr said. “I told the girls that’s our 10th game that we lost, and seven of them were to teams that have lost six games total (combined), so that’s a killer schedule and it didn’t get any easier once we entered the tournament.”

“I’m happy for the seniors that they had a year they could be proud of, and I’m going to miss them. There’s not five better people in the world than the five seniors I had. It made the year fun.”

Those five seniors were Lauryn Menges, Sutherlynd Butler, Emilee Robb, Alison Loase and Hannah Porter.

“We felt like pressure was going to bother them,” Hiland head coach Dave Schlabach said. “It took a little bit to get going, but the kids played hard.”

“We wanted to let them loose a little bit tonight and haven’t really been able to do that the last couple of games, so pressure was good. I thought the scoring was balanced, which was good, I saw a lot of kids contribute and we are still trying to develop that depth every day, and I thought we got that.”

Hiland (23-2), who finished the regular season fourth in the Division III AP State Poll, applied vice-like pressure from the start of the game, forcing the Lady Jets (14-10) into 10 first quarter turnovers while not allowing Union Local to even get a shot off for the first six minutes of the game. Butler broke the drought at the 2:30 mark with a neat little jumper from just outside the lane and Kiera Gregor added a tough inside shot that she worked the lane hard for, but that was the extent of UL scoring in the first.

Hiland on the other hand was a well-oiled machine converting eight first quarter turnovers into buckets, while cruising to a 25-4 lead after one. In all, the Hawks held an 8-4 edge in turnovers and a 10-3 advantage in rebounds after one. Zoe Miller netted nine in the frame for the Hawks, while Morgan Yoder and Brynn Mullet evenly split 14.

The Lady Jets were held to a pair of made baskets in the second as Hiland continued to apply half-court pressure, however Union Local was able to keep the Hawks off the board for the first 5:31 of the frame to close the gap to 25-8. Unfortunately for the Red-and-White, Hiland caught fire at that point, ignited by a three from Miller, to reel off 15 points to close the quarter and hold a 40-11 lead at the break.

Hiland activated the running clock with 5:25 remaining in the third as the Hawks continued distributing the ball and substituting liberally while reeling off 17 points in the frame. Union Local did receive a trio of three-point baskets from Loase, who had two, and Hannah Merritt, placing the score at a 57-20 count after three,

Loase led Union Local with eight points and Kildow added five. Hiland placed three in double figures, getting a game-high 14 from Zoe Williams. Mullet and Yoder added 11 and 10, respectfully.