Parkland overcomes slow start to beat Emmaus
Parkland and Emmaus, two girls basketball teams that are each off to their best starts in years, met Friday night on the Trojans’ home court in a matchup of undefeated Eastern Pennsylvania Conference West Division squads.
Trojans junior forward Madi Siggins, battling a cold, dominated the inside game and finished with 16 points and seven rebounds as Parkland defeated the Green Hornets, 50-39.
“Oh my goodness it’s been a battle all week,” Siggins said. “I’ve been sick and I’m trying to do different things to get healthy. To come out here and play when you’re sick is tough.”
Talia Zurinkas added 14 points and point guard Delaney Chilcote contributed 10 points, four assists and two blocked shots to the winning cause.
“Madi has been out all week and so has Lauren Ervin with sickness,” Parkland coach Ed Ohlson said of his starting forwards. “For them to gut it out like they did was really a gutsy performance by both of them. Madie’s teammates were looking for her tonight. They knew that she could handle it down low and she did really well.”
The Trojans (11-1 overall, 4-0 division), ranked second in the area, are off their best start since going 14-1 to begin the 2012-13 season. Their only loss this season is to a team from New York, Xaverian, 57-35 over the holidays.
“We’re ecstatic right now with the way the season has gone,”
Ohlson said. “Coming to practice every day when you’re playing like this is great. The kids bring energy every day. It’s unbelievable how good they are in practice. We’re trying to set a standard and then trying to play to that standard every night. If we can do that yeah, you might have some bumps in the road, but over time it’s going to help us get to where we want to go to.”
“Our season is going really well,” Siggins said. “We’re staying together and working hard. We’re putting in extra work and I think it’s all coming together. We’re just
going to keep our heads down and keep on working.”
Despite the loss the Green Hornets (10-4, 3-1), ranked sixth in the area, are off to their best start since going 18-1 to begin the 2006-07 season. Emmaus has lost to Scranton this season plus to three EPC teams in the area ranked ahead of the Hornets.
“We’re still sitting at 10-4, which is one of the best starts that the program has seen in a long time,” sixth-year Emmaus coach Kelsey Gallagher said. “These kids work so hard. We play to the end whether things are going our way or not. We just play. And I’m so proud of them. I couldn’t ask for anymore from them.”
Emmaus began the game on a roll thanks to its transition game, which accounted for eight of its 12 first quarter points, to take a 12-3 lead before Siggins ended the quarter with a post-up basket.
The Green Hornets scored eight straight points in the opening stanza on freshman guard Gabrielle DeVita’s second transition basket, a rebound basket by Julia Adams and back-to-back fastbreak layups by Mya Cooper.
“Obviously we were playing at a high speed against a very good team so fatigue is going to kick in at some point,” Gallagher said. “Parkland hit a couple shots and we kind of put our heads down a little bit too early. We picked ourselves back up. It comes down to believing. The kids need to believe they belong. And this year they are proving they belong.”
Parkland, which shot 2-for-8 in a listless opening eight minutes, came alive in the second quarter as freshman Addison Fritzinger made a jumper and Alexis Brader scored a layup in traffic.
The Trojans took their first lead of the night, 14-13 with 3:25 left in the half, on a Siggins drive before Emmaus guard Paige Inman quickly answered with a basket. Chilcote gave Parkland the lead for good with a foul-line jumper off the dribble and Siggins hit a 3-pointer to make it 20-15.
Siggins hit two foul shots to open the second half before making a reverse layup and made it a threepoint play when she was fouled and converted the free throw. DeVita hit a 3-pointer and Cooper scored on a drive to get Emmaus back to within four, as did Inman, whose layup made it 29-25 Parkland.
The Trojans then took a 35-25 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Chilcote and Zurinkas. The Hornets cut that lead in half early in the final quarter on an Inman coast-to coast jaunt following a defensive rebound.
An inside basket by Chilcote and a runner plus two free throws from Zurinkas made the Parkland lead 42-31 midway through the fourth quarter and Emmaus never got the deficit below eight after that.
Taylor Griffith led Emmaus with 11 points, Inman and Cooper each had eight and DeVita had seven.
“I think Emmaus had us scouted pretty well,” Ohlson said of the Trojans slow start. “They made some adjustments based on what we did Tuesday and then we had to adjust to that. That’s basketball, right?
Both teams played very well. It was a physical game and I thought our girls at the end executed very well.”
Parkland is right back at it at noon Saturday when it hosts Pocono Mountain West, ranked third in the area, before taking on undefeated and top-ranked Easton next Saturday in a much-anticipated contest.
In between they have a game against Bethlehem Catholic.
“It’s it a little tough on us being sick right now,” Ohlson said. “But that’s the way it goes so we have to come out ready.”