Berlin Hiland tops Waterford
The last cheers and applause had stopped reverberating inside Value City Arena for only a few minutes when Berlin Hiland coach Dave Schlabach was asked how long he would permit himself to enjoy the Division IV championship.
“Thirty days," he said. “Our goal has never changed in 26 years."
The chances are great that Schlabach will replay the Hawks’ 61-41 victory over Waterford on Saturday a lot longer than that, but the Ohio High School Athletic Association mandates a so-called dead period after the final day of the season.
For Hiland (29-1), this was familiar ground, but then again it really wasn’t. The girls have won five championships, but this was the first since 2008 after runnerup finishes in ’09, ’10, ’12 and ’13.
“We’ve lost some state championships in the last seven or eight years and these kids were determined to bring one back to Holmes County," Schlabach said.
Senior guard Angela Troyer, who has signed with Ohio Dominican, said she gladly would have given up her state division player of the year award to wear a gold medallion. She got both.
“To win a state championship my senior year is all I wanted," she said. “I started playing basketball in the first and second grade."
Hiland’s frustration reached its peak when it lost to Lake Ridge Academy 41-40 in a regional semifinal last season when it missed several three-point attempts in the final seconds. It was 1 of 28 from three-point range for the game.
Schlabach brought up that game after the team celebrated Saturday.
“I told them in the locker room to sit down for a minute and remember what happened a year ago," he said.
There was no drama against Waterford (254). The Hawks scored 21 points off 19 turnovers and hit eight threepointers, with Troyer netting four and Morgan McMillen three.
Troyer and McMillen led the Hawks with 20 and 17 points, respectively.
“Coming in, I had to stay calm and get the team calm," McMillen said. “The big part was staying focused on the main goal, winning the game."
Waterford, which was trying to win a second straight championship with a lot of fresh faces, was still in contention in trailing 31-21 at halftime.
Wildcats coach Jerry Close saluted his young players for getting better as the season wore on.
“They are the sweetest kids, but they weren’t tough enough," he said. “They matured a lot."
Gates Mills Gilmour Academy 56, Versailles 54: It took him two high schools and almost four decades to do it, but coach Bob Beutel won his first championship as the Lancers weathered a furious push by Versailles in the final 34 seconds to win the Division III title.
Beutel, 66, has won 694 games in a career that started with 25 seasons at Eastlake North, a suburb east of Cleveland. He has been at Gilmour for 12 seasons.
The Lancers led 55-48 after two free throws by Annika Corcoran with 42 seconds left, but the Tigers (26-4) got two free throws and a layup from Danielle Winner and a layup by Kami McEldowney to stay close.
Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame 54, Toledo Notre Dame Academy 44: Julia Hoefling scored 18 points, eight in the fourth quarter, to help Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame to its sixth title with a win against Toledo Notre Dame Academy in the Division I final.
Bre Hampton-Bey scored 22 points for Notre Dame Academy (26-4), which closed to 42-38 in the fourth quarter before Mount Notre Dame (26-4) pulled away.