It’s been a season of streaks for the Emmaus girls basketball team. The year opened with three straight wins, but just one win in their next three games put them at 4-2 on the season.

From there, the schedule turned much tougher, and the Hornets head into districts on a five-game losing skid and a 4-7 record.

District 11 decided to open the district tournament to all teams because coronavirus concerns had disrupted the season and left some teams with late starts to their season and even canceled some playoffs, including in the East Penn Conference.

That decision allowed Emmaus to qualify for districts for the first time since 2013. Not only are the Hornets in districts, but they enter as the number eight seed, giving them a home game against Pleasant Valley in the first round.

One player who has come on strong as the season progressed is junior Kameron Watkins, who leads the team in scoring by averaging just over eight points per game.

Over a six-game stretch starting early in the season, Watkins was averaging 10 points per game before running into tough defensive teams Central Catholic and Parkland, who had caught on to just how good she was.

In her last two games though, she was able to score 10 against Parkland and 11 against a very good Northampton team. Watkins scored a season-high 16 points against Whitehall in a 42-36 loss recently.

Senior Stephanie Klemick became the first player under coach Kelsey Gallagher to move into the college ranks when she signed a letter of intent to play at Marywood.

Klemick has fit the defense-first mindset of the team and has worked to make the younger players on the team better, helping them to pick up some of the finer points of the game. The senior is also second on the team in scoring with over five points per game.

Four of the team’s losses were by eight points or less and three were by six or fewer points, including six-point losses to Whitehall (9-8) and Parkland (11-2) and a five-point loss to Northampton (6-5). They also defeated Whitehall 28-21 earlier in the season.

Should Emmaus beat Pleasant Valley (3-7) in the first round of playoffs, it would have the unenviable task of facing top-seeded Nazareth (13-1) in the quarterfinals of districts. The Blue Eagles only loss came to Northampton in the middle of the season, and they come into districts on a six-game winning streak.

The EPC playoffs, which would have taken place last week, were canceled to allow teams to play more games. League games were also only against teams in their own county, limiting the league schedule to 10 games for each team.