Photo/KREG ROBINSON RIVER SENIOR Hannah Raper drives to the bucket during Saturday’s Division IV district final against Hiland at Meadowbrook High School.

BYESVILLE – It may not be the Hiland of old but the Lady Hawks still pack a potent punch.

Hiland won six OHSAA state girls’ basketball championships under the tutelage of legendary and now retired Dave Schlabach. The Lady Hawks are now guided by Schlabach’s son, Brady.

Hiland let it be known Saturday that it is once again a force to be reckoned with on elite levels. The Lady Hawks punched their Division IV regional ticket by ousting a very good River squad, 60-41, at Meadowbrook.

The win improved Hiland to 20-6. River, meanwhile, ended its brilliant season with a 24-3 mark.

“I am very happy for this team. They have been put through a brutally tough schedule,” Brady Schlabach said. “We are a young team but once we got a win over Midview in midseason everything started to fall into place.

“Mallory (Stuztman) and Ashley (Mullet) both had breakout games. We have been waiting for that all season,” he added. “We beat a very good team today. They have a great point guard in (Kelsey) Harlan. We needed a team defensive effort to slow her down.”

Stuztman and Mullet – both juniors – each poured in 24 points for the winners. Stuztman buried five treys while Mullet drained three bonus balls. All told, the Lady Hawks dropped in 10 treys on the day.

Harlan paced River with 18 points despite being face-guarded and double-teamed for much of the game. Senior post Rylee Knight was her top support with 11 counters.

“I have seen Hiland eight times and they have never shot the ball like they did today. We left them open some but they really shot it well,” River head coach Rick Isaly said. “We basically let two kids beat us. Stuztman and Mullet outscored us by themselves.

“They run nice sets on offense and are very fundamental. Hiland is not a team you want to have to play catchup with,” he added. “We didn’t play defense like we have the past few games. But our hats are off to Hiland. They played much better than us.”

River acquitted itself nicely in the first quarter, battling to a 13-13 standoff at the break. Sophomore Reese Hobbs delivered five points for the Lady Pilots.

Hiland, however, began to grab control of the contest over the course of the next eight minutes. Stuztman (11) and Mullet (5) combined for 16 points in the stanza, propelling the Lady Hawks to a 31-23 halftime advantage. The lead would have been 11 if not for a deep three from Harlan at the buzzer.

Hiland, parlaying its stifling man-to-man defense with more scoring from Stuztman, methodically began pulling away in the third chapter. Stuztman pumped in nine more tallies as the Holmes County crew built a 47-35 advantage entering the final chapter. Knight netted seven points for River in the third frame.

The fourth quarter belonged to Mullet.

The 5-7 point guard scored 11 points while adeptly running the Lady Hawks’ delay game. As a result, River never closed to within single digits over the final eight minutes.

“We won 24 games and the OVAC title this year. But today is a disappointing end to the season,” Isaly said. “We were playing really well entering the game. We just needed some more girls to step up.

“I feel bad for my two seniors (Knight and Hannah Raper),” added the classy coach. “They are both very good players who have meant a great deal to our program.”

Raper closed out her stellar career just shy of 1,000 points.

River committed nine turnovers, one more than Hiland.