OTTOVILLE – Between them, Ottoville and Berlin Hiland have played in 21 girls state basketball tournaments since the late 1980s.
When the two teams play in a Division IV state semifinal on Thursday night, it will be the 15th time Hiland has been in the state tournament since 1989. Ottoville has gone to state six times since 1993.
If there is a common thread in that history of success in the two communities, separated by 160 miles, it is that basketball players start playing the game early and that tradition builds upon past success.
“When these little kids see these older girls get down to state and get to the regionals, that’s what they want to do. They believe they can do that too,” Ottoville coach Dave Kleman said.
“As a matter of fact, on the way home on the bus the other day, I asked my managers – and almost all the players were managers once – I asked the managers, ‘Girls, what do you have to do to get down to state?’ and they all said, ‘Practice.’ And I said, ‘That’s right. You have to work at it. It doesn’t just fall in your lap.’ And that’s what we’ve been preaching for 25 years,” he said.
Hiland coach Dave Schlabach sees the same thing in in his area in Holmes County, around 30 miles southwest of Canton.
“In these one-town schools the kids are growing up together. The majority of my kids, I had them in basketball camp when they were kindergarteners or in first grade. These kids were managers on many state teams and got to sit there and watch,” Schlabach said.
“Tradition runs deep. It’s a great work ethic community, a great family background community. I think those things all bode well when it comes to athletics,” he said.
Hiland has won four state championships and has been state runner-up five times.
Ottoville was state runner-up in 2005. Hiland won one of its state championships that year in a game that went into overtime before the Hawks won 55-47 over the Big Green.
No. 7-ranked Ottoville will take a 24-3 record into Thursday’s 8 p.m. game at Ohio State’s Schottenstein Center and has not lost to a Division IV school this season. No. 1 Hiland is 27-1 and its win total includes a victory over Columbus Africentric. Its only loss was to Division III Gates Mill Gilmour Academy.
Hiland’s Angela Troyer, a 5-foot, 9-inch senior who averages 19 points a game, is The Associated Press Division IV state Player of the Year in D-IV. Morgan McMillen, a 5-9 junior, averages 17.6 a game and Kennedy Schlabach, a 5-6 junior, is averaging 16 points a game. Tiffany Weaver, a 6-1 sophomore, gives Hiland more size inside than it has had in many recent seasons.
For Ottoville, 6-foot junior Bridget Landin averages 14.0 points a game and also was named first-team All-Ohio.
C.J. Kemper averages 10.1 points a game, Alicia Honigford scores 6.3 points a game, Brooke Mangas averages 6.2 points a game and Alexis Thorbahn averages 4.2. Amber Miller and Kasey Knippen have both scored in double figures in several games off the bench.
Honigford and Mangas have started for four years and Landin has started all three of her high school seasons.
“We have eight kids who have scored in double figures for us this season. We have a lot of weapons we can use in scoring. If they get their shots, they’re going to shoot it,” Kleman said.
All of Ottoville’s losses came in three weeks between Dec. 22 and Jan. 10 – by three points to Ottawa-Glandorf, by nine points to Columbus Grove and by three to Bath.
“I think we improved as the year went on, we got better and better,” Kleman said.
“The good teams will find your weaknesses and by losing those games we worked on some of the weaknesses where we had to get better. We share the ball, we play 10 kids, we have a lot of people who score for us. I just feel like right now we’re playing our best basketball,” he said.
Hiland likes to use defensive pressure to wear down opponents.
“They’re the first team this year that either matches or exceeds our depth,” Schlabach said. “A lot of teams we play we go into games thinking we’re going to wear them out. We’re not going to do that against Ottoville.”
Hiland has won 14 of its games by 50 points or more, with many of those wins coming over neighboring teams who simply aren’t on the same level as the Hawks. Twelve years ago when Ottoville and Hiland played for the state championship, the Holmes County school had a similar resume with 13 wins by 50 points or more.
“They haven’t had too many challenging games. I hope we can give them one. It’s going to be one of the better games down there,” Kleman said.
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
