For the first time in more than a decade, the Parkland High School girls basketball team enters this season as the defending Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and District 11 champions.

The Trojans finished last year with a 29-3 overall record and a 15-1 mark in the conference. They lost a talented group of five seniors to graduation, including two 1,000-point scorers. They return a large group of underclassmen that will be able to pick back up where they left off from last season.

“Our team aspirations are the same every year, win our division, our league, our district and our state championships,” said Parkland head coach Ed Ohlson. “Our goals are tied to what each of us can do every day to reach those aspirations. Our motto is get 1 percent better every day. If we do that and focus on individual goals our team aspirations have a chance to be reached.”

Parkland has top returnees coming back in seniors Delaney Chilcote, Katalyna Canela and Sarah Car, along with juniors Isabella Hallal, Aneri McGalla and Addy Fritzinger. A couple of key newcomers that are expected to contribute include junior Kate Blenis, Savannah Gonzalez, Haley Hudson and Brooke Ackerman, sophomores Arielle Brown, Yana Smaltz and Cheryllana Cunningham, along with freshman Carly Spang and Morgan Volpe.

“The team has a lot of experience returning in Chilcote, Hallal, McGalla and Fritzinger, who all started last year,” Ohlson. “Behind them are a lot of talented underclassmen who will take time to mesh in. Early on there could be some struggles but when it counts the Lady Trojans should be in the mix.”

Parkland opens up its 2024-25 regular season portion of its schedule on Monday night, Dec. 2, in a road conference game at Allen. Another road game at Freedom follows that Thursday night. The home opener is set for Tuesday, Dec. 10, against Whitehall.