ZOARVILLE — Playing before a packed house in an absolutely electric atmosphere, Inter Valley Conference girls’ basketball powers Hiland and Tusky Valley met in a much-anticipated rematch in the Trojans’ gym Monday evening.
Tradition-rich Hiland, which has been to the state tournament 19 times in school history with six state championships to its credit, had the better of it on this night as the Hawks posted a 65-48 triumph over the Trojans.
“We showed up, we lost to the better team tonight — Hiland is a very good basketball team,” said Tusky Valley head coach Matt Ward, who loved seeing his team play before a packed house. “This is the type of environment you want to play in. Sometimes in girls’ basketball you don’t get the biggest crowds, but this was awesome, you had three livestreams going and there was a lot of interest in this game from outside of our two schools.”
With the win, Hiland (15-2 overall) claimed a piece of the Inter Valley Conference South crown with a 10-0 league record. Hiland also swept the season series with Tusky Valley, defeating the Trojans 59-41 in Berlin on Dec. 16.
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With the setback, Tusky Valley, which played a solid game overall but fell victim to a red-hot shooting night by the Hawks, is now 13-3 overall and 7-2 in IVC action.
“Obviously, (with them) shooting 50 percent from 3-point line, they’re a good shooting team but we just didn’t do a good enough job of chasing them off the line and got out of position a little bit,” Ward said.
In particular, Hiland’s 5-foot-8 senior guard Ashley Mullet was unstoppable as she took game-scoring honors with 29 points, including five of the Hawks’ 12 3-pointers in the contest.
“(The Trojans) are our conference rival, so it was super fun and a great atmosphere and just fun to play in,” said Mullet. “I’m super proud of our team.”
“We were able to get some clean rebounds and were able to find Ashley and keep going on the run,” said Hiland head coach Brady Schlabach. “She’s so good, and she probably had six or seven assists as well with her ability to find our shooters.”
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Complementing Mullet in double figures for the Hawks were Mallory Stutzman with 12 points, center Joplin Yoder with 10 points and Trish Troyer with nine markers.
“We have kids who aren’t afraid to take a big shot,” Schlabach said. “I feel like we did that pretty well tonight.”
Tusky Valley also had an excellent night from the perimeter as Elli Wallick led the Trojans with 13 points, while teammates Chloe Salapack and Kaleigh Norris added eight points apiece, Sally Ray finished with seven and Locie Levengood and Leah Bourquin had six points each. Tusky Valley had seven 3-pointers in the contest.
“I was very proud of their effort — I think their effort was there from start to finish,” said Ward of the Trojans.
Tusky Valley jumped out to as much as a four-point (12-8) lead after Bourquin hit two free throws with 2:32 showing in the first quarter. But Hiland answered with a 9-0 run, led by Stutzman who had eight points in the frame, to lead 17-12 after one.
“I felt like our girls played really hard,” Schlabach said. “You know, a couple times they (the Trojans) could have gone on big runs, and we kept our composure and were still able to execute and do what we wanted to.”
Hiland, which advanced to the state tourney in Division 4 last year and is ranked second in the latest Associated Press small-school poll, doesn’t shy away from the fact its goal is to add another state championship to its trophy case in March.
“Our goal every year is to win a state championship, so games like this are going to prepare us for it,” Mullet said. “Playing good teams during the whole season is what prepares you, so I think that will really be good for us.”
“They have a little bit of hunger in them from how things ended up last year (losing in the state semifinals to Tri-Village),” said Schlabach of his team. “Hopefully, this year, going through some of these battles (will help). This was a hostile, awesome environment tonight and these are fun games to be a part of.”
Tusky Valley returns to action Wednesday night with an IVC trip to Claymont to face the Mustangs.
“They (the Mustangs) have a young group, and it’s about us, really,” Ward said. “We’ve just got to come back and refocus and look at some of the things we didn’t do well and learn from that. We’ve got some important games before we get to the tournament.”
Meanwhile, Hiland will entertain the Ridgewood Generals Wednesday night in IVC action.
HILAND (15-2, 10-0 IVC): Macy Mullet 1 0-0 3, Ellie Habeger 0 0-0 0, Tori Weaver 0 0-0 0, Evie Mast 1 0-0 2, Mallory Stutzman 4 1-2 12, Ashley Mullet 11 2-2 29, Trish Troyer 3 0-0 9, Maci Miller 0 0-0 0, Joplin Yoder 4 1-2 10. Totals: 24 4-6 65.
TUSKY VALLEY (13-3, 7-2 IVC): Elli Wallick 5 2-2 13, Chloe Salapack 3 0-0 8, Sally Ray 3 1-2 7, Leah Bourquin 2 2-2 6, Locie Levengood 2 0-0 6, Kaleigh Norris 3 0-0 8, Natalia Woloch 0 0-0 0, Riley Sites 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 5-6 48.
Hiland 17-16-16-16—65
Tusky Valley 12-11-11-14—48
3-point goals: Hiland 12 (Ashley Mullet 5, Mallory Stutzman 3, Trish Troyer 3, Macy Mullet 1). Tusky Valley 7 (Elli Wallick 1, Locie Levengood 2, Kaleigh Norris 2, Chloe Salapack 2).
Total fouls: Hiland 8, Tusky Valley 7. Fouled out: none. JV: Tusky Valley 32, Waynedale 25 (Hiland doesn’t field a JV team)