The Emmaus girls basketball team will play in its second straight East Penn Conference title game after a 57-44 win over Parkland in Monday’s semifinal round of the league playoffs.

The Hornets’ Kayla Snyder led the way with a game-high 21 points Monday at the PPL Center, while the other half of the team’s dynamic duo, Gabby DeVita scored 13 points in the game.

“That’s the type of player she is,” said Emmaus head coach Avon Mack of Snyder, the team’s point guard. “She can score 20 when called upon or she can run the offense and lead the team that way. She gets overlooked a lot but I think we have the best back court in the league when those two are clicking on all cylinders. If it’s not Gabby, Kayla can step up. Gabby didn’t have the greatest first half but Kayla said ‘don’t worry about it. I got your back.’ That was good to see.”

The team’s top scorers played a large role in Monday’s win, while several other players contributed in ways that don’t show up on the score sheet.

Senior Sylvia Sokolofski scored eight points in the win. She also blocked two shots and pulled down five rebounds in limited action due to foul trouble.

“One of the best defenders in the league,” Mack said of Sokolofski. “She’s not flashy. She does all the dirty work. She holds most of her opponents under their average or even lower. When you get that kind of performance from a role player, it ignites the other players on the court to play defense just as hard. She’s a very invaluable piece of this puzzle.”

Sofie Laird did all of her damage for the Hornets in the second half, with five third-quarter rebounds and seven in the game while scoring two points and assisting on two baskets.

Olive Whitney hit a pair of three pointers in the game while scoring eight points.

“We have a team,” said Mack. “They all play a role and have accepted it. Olive is invaluable. She comes off the bench and it’s instant offense. When we have a match up we can go four guards or go five guards and put Sofie as a post player. It’s good to have all these options in your tool kit.”

Emmaus, which fell to Parkland in the 2024 league title game, jumped out to a 9-4 lead early in Monday’s game and led by three after the first quarter thanks to a DaVita three-pointer at the buzzer.

The Hornets used defense to create offense in the second quarter as six Parkland turnovers led to a 26-17 Emmaus lead with 1:43 remaining in the first half.

A Delaney Chilcote basket and a three-pointer from Addison Fritzinger made it 26-22 in favor of Emmaus as Parkland ended the first half on a 5-0 run and started the second with another.

Chilcote scored her team’s first five points of the second half and the Trojans had their first lead of the game, 27-26. Emmaus went 1-for-6 from the field to start the third quarter and fell behind 32-28 as Chilcote scored seven of her team-high 18 points in the quarter.

Snyder hit a three to end Parkland’s 15-2 run that started in the second quarter. She made another with 15 seconds left in the quarter to give her team a 38-36 lead heading into the final stanza.

Arielle Brown scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter to give Parkland a 40-38 lead before Emmaus sealed the win with a 13-0 run that saw five different players score.

“We preach multiple stops, try to get three stops in a row,” said Mack. “We finally got three stops in a row and that allowed us to go. That’s big against a team like that because they play off momentum, as you saw coming out of the half. We found a way to stymie it a little bit.”

A Laird basket tied the game. DeVita scored to put her team ahead for good. Whitney hit a three-pointer. Snyder scored on a lay up before Laird and DeVita capped the run with baskets to give their team a 53-40 lead with 2:37 remaining in the game.

Parkland turned the ball over six times in the fourth quarter and five times during the Hornets’ decisive late-game run.

“In the first quarter we dug ourselves a hole with some uncharacteristic turnovers,” said Parkland head coach Ed Ohlson. “Then the fourth quarter went the same exact way. And we didn’t rebound in the fourth quarter. They got every bounce and good teams get bounces.”

Emmaus (23-1 overall) hasn’t lost a game since falling to Hazleton on Dec. 6. They Hornets went 16-0 in league play to earn the top seed in the EPC playoffs, while Parkland (16-8) went 13-3 in league play, including two losses to Emmaus, to earn the No. 4 seed for the tournament.

The Hornets opened postseason play last Friday with a 54-35 win over No. 8 seed Central Catholic. DeVita scored a game-high 22 points in the quarterfinal round win over the Vikettes, while Whitney and Cassie Doemling scored seven points each against Central.

Emmaus moves on to face No. 6 seed Bethlehem Catholic in Thursday’s league title game at 6 p.m. at the PPL Center. The Golden Hawks beat No. 3 seed Easton in the first round then topped No. 7 Nazareth 51-42 in Monday’s semifinals.

The Hornets edged Bethlehem Catholic 56-53 in their only meeting this season on Jan. 14.

“We just take it one game at a time,” said Mack. “It’s not going to be easy. It’s a match up nightmare because they have a lot of guards. But we’ll come up with something. We’ve got two days to figure it out. I just want the girls to enjoy [Monday’s win] because they had that 1-0 mentality. We got this one then it resets. When tomorrow hits we’re looking to go 1-0.”