March Madness might not begin until next week, but the Parkland girls basketball team already busted some brackets a few weeks ago.

The Trojans were the fourth seed for the District 11 tournament last month and knocked off the top two seeds on their way to the title.

They went on to win a first-round state playoff game before falling Tuesday in the second round to District 3s’ fourth-place team, Central Dauphin, 39-23, Tuesday at Hamburg High School.

“We just didn’t shoot well,” said Parkland head coach Ed Ohlson. “Foul shots. Layups. Threes. Take your pick, we didn’t hit any of them. You need to shoot in these kind of games to have a chance.

“If you give up 31 points through the middle of the fourth quarter you win the game. We just didn’t score. Everybody was not making shots so it was tough.”

Parkland (20-8) got through the first half on 6-for-15 shooting from the field (2-for-8 on 3-pointers). The Trojans erased a 6-point first-quarter deficit and took a lead at halftime as they held the Rams to just one second-quarter basket.

Sarah Car scored all of her five points in the second quarter and Isabella Hallal scored four of her team-high 9 points in the period as Parkland took a 15-14 lead into halftime.

The Rams (17-8) cranked up their defense in the third quarter, holding the Trojans to one point and no baskets while taking a 26-16 lead into the final stanza.

Parkland went 0-for-10 from the field in the third quarter and 1-for-11 in the fourth, while shooting 0-for-12 from three-point range in the second half.

“I don’t think we were connected offensively as much as we usually are,” said Parkland senior captain Delaney Chilcote. “They were a great defensive team. I don’t think we were prepared for them being so up on us and kind of face guarding all of us. I think we got a little flustered and instead of calming down we had a lot of turnovers and bad shots.”

The Trojans trimmed Central Dauphin’s lead to 30-23 on a Hallal basket off an Aneri McGalla assist with just under four minutes left in the game, but they didn’t score again and saw their season end with the loss.

After falling to Emmaus by 13 points (57-43) in the East Penn Conference semifinals, Parkland went on a four-game winning streak to reach the second round of the state tournament, including beating the top two seeds in the district playoffs.

Parkland graduated a pair of 1,000-point scorers last spring and went 15-7 in the 2024-25 regular season. A year ago they entered the postseason as the clear favorite in the league and district. This season the expectations were not quite as high, but the results were similar.

“Coming in we knew it was going to be a little different from last year,” said Chilcote. “At the same time it was kind of nice. There was not as much pressure. We played Emmaus, the No. 1 seed, and Easton, the No. 2 seed [in districts]. It was a good feeling to be the underdogs and pull out the wins. It shot our confidence through the roof.”

Parkland won its second straight district title in 2025 and third in the past four years.

The team will graduate Chilcote and Car from this year’s team, but will return three starters next year.

Chilcote was a starter on last year’s team and put up some nice numbers in her career.

“She’s right around 950 points,” said Ohlson. “She’s over 450 assists. That kind of impact on the basketball court is unbelievable. The impact she’s had in the locker room is just as strong. She’s been there for all those girls. She led us this year. Her and Sarah did a great job as captains this year.”

Car waited her turn behind one of the best players to ever come through the program, but made her mark this season when the opportunity presented itself.

“Sarah was thrust into a role,” said Ohlson. “Who wants to take Talia Zurinskas’ place? Those are some pretty big shoes to fill and she did a phenomenal job all year.”

Parkland got to the second round of the state tournament with a 40-30 win over District 1’s ninth-place team, Downingtown West last Friday. McGalla scored a game-high 13 points in the win, while Car added 10 points and Chilcote chipped in with nine.