Looking back to the start of the high school basketball season, the Lady Trojans had a tough opening slate of games.

Minersville High School had to postpone the season opener against Parkland due to COVID issues at their school, leaving Parkland with no tuneup games before facing Northampton and Nazareth in East Penn Conference play.

Meanwhile, Northampton had two games under its belt by the time Parkland was stepping onto the court for the first time and the extended layoff showed as the Trojans dropped a 42-34 decision to the Konkrete Kids and then fell to Nazareth to open the season 0-2.

Both teams were playing well coming into their rematch Tuesday night and this time, Parkland turned the tables and beat Northampton on their court by a 36-29 score.

For the first four minutes of the game, it looked as if some wise guy put Saran Wrap on the top of the basket, because nothing was dropping for either team. Slowly, shots started to fall for Parkland, but Northampton (16-4 overall, 12-2 EPC) remained unable to find a way to get the ball through the net.

In what was a fast-moving first quarter, Parkland (11-7, 8-5) opened a nine-point lead with 1:01 left to play in the quarter. When the second stanza began, Northampton had suddenly zeroed in its sites and junior Grace Lesko cut a five-point Parkland lead down to just one when she drove the lane for a left-handed layup. Less than 30 seconds later, Lesko hit two free throws to make it 13-12 in favor of the Konkrete Ladies.

Parkland’s Zoe Wilkinson dropped in a three-pointer to beat the buzzer and make it 16-12 Parkland heading into halftime.

“Midseason we hit a couple rough spots, but we came together and decided we wanted our identity to be defense,” said Parkland assistant coach Amanda Wolf. “Defensively in the past couple games, we have committed to that, and we have won a couple big games here.”

Freshman Delaney Chilcote opened the scoring in the third quarter and sophomore guard Talia Zurinskas nailed a three-pointer to put the Trojans up 21-14. Northampton again cut into the margin, but a pair of free throws from Zoe Wilkinson and a three-pointer from Chilcote gave Parkland a 26-19 lead going into the game’s final quarter.

Zurinskas, who led Parkland in scoring with 13 points, hit a pair of free throws to give Parkland its largest lead of the night at 29-19 less than one minute into the final quarter. The closest that Northampton would get over the rest of the game was within six points. As the Konkrete Kids used fouls in hopes of the Trojans missing their freebies, Parkland stayed calm and Zurinskas and Maddie Siggins went five of seven from the line over the final 3:18 of the game to head home with a 36-29 win.

Lesko finished as the game’s leading scorer with 18 points for Northampton.

Parkland picked up an emotional boost when senior Mo Olenwine checked into a game for the first time this season after missing the first 17 games of the season with a knee injury. Not long ago, it appeared that Olenwine would miss her entire senior season, but she was finally cleared by doctors to play on a limited schedule.

“I missed the entire soccer season, so at this point I will take anything I can get,” said Olenwine with a broad smile. “My teammates have been there right by my side for the whole season. They showed me a lot of support tonight and I have felt their support all season long and they helped me get past the frustration of not being able to play.”

Parkland has a spot in the District 11 playoffs secured, but figuring out the eight EPC playoff teams – especially the last three spots – requires a collection of mathematicians. The top five teams are set with Easton (13-0) currently holding down the top seed, while Pocono Mountain West (11-2), Bethlehem Catholic (11-2) and Allentown Central Catholic (10-3) all jockey among themselves for the next four spots. From there, seven teams are fighting over the final three spots on the bracket. Nazareth (8-5), Parkland (8-5), Emmaus (8-6), Whitehall (7-7) Pleasant Valley (7-7), East Stroudsburg South (6-6) and Freedom (6-7) are all within range of qualifying for the conference tournament.

Parkland hosts Emmaus Friday night before welcoming in Whitehall and Pocono Mountain East (5-11, 4-9) on Monday and Tuesday. They also have a nonconference game against Spring-Ford on Saturday.

“We knew that we had to beat either Central Catholic or Northampton down the stretch and we were able to win both,” said Wolf. “The girls came in tonight wanting this one and they never really took their foot off the gas from the very start of the game.”