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LEHIGH VALLEY WEATHER

Girls fall to Golden Hawks

Head coach Wes Spence didn't need to hype up Tuesday's showdown with league leading Bethlehem Catholic. He told his team it was just another game and to go out and compete.

The Lady Trojans were competitive in all but one quarter, and that proved costly as they fell behind by double digits and could not climb all the way back, losing to Bethlehem Catholic last Tuesday night 55-39 in a matchup of division leaders.

"We were just looking at it as our next game," Spence said. "We have goals of getting into the LVC playoffs, and this was just the next game towards that goal. They came out and played hard, and we might see them again down the line."

In a very fast paced first quarter, which featured eight lead changes, the Hawks' Kalista Walters established herself down low. Walters seemingly snagged every rebound on both ends, and contested Trojans shots on their end of the floor. Janell Robinson also disrupted the flow of play calling for Parkland (14-2, 7-2).

"They're very long defensively, and they're physical," said Spence. "It was a physical game, and that was one of the keys. It got us out of any rhythm we had offensively."

Sierra Derti (11 points) hit a jumper just before the end of the first on a pass from Hannah Gombos (seven points), and Parkland took a 13-12 lead after one.

But the Trojans went cold in the second quarter. They shot 0-for-6 from the field, and had four more misses from the free throw line. While Parkland could not muster a point, the Golden Hawks took advantage and went on a 15-0 run to go ahead by 14 at halftime.

Callie Krajcir (nine points) ended the scoreless drought with a free throw with 7:34 left in the third quarter. Missy Oertner (seven points) then added consecutive jumpers, and the Trojans got on a roll.

The only problem was that Walters (20 points), and fellow forward Bridget Smith (14 points), were not allowing Parkland to get any closer than 13 in the second half.

The loss snapped a 13-game winning streak for Parkland. The last time the Trojans came out on the losing end was on December 14 in a 38-31 setback to Nazareth in the second game of the season.

"We told the girls after the game to not let this get in the way of what we're trying to do," said Spence. "We've grown a lot from where we were in mid-December to where we are right now. We don't want them to lose sight of that. We've done a lot of great things up to this point, and look to continue that."

The Trojans are schedule to host Allen on Friday and travel to Rockne Hall next Tuesday night for a showdown with LVC West leader Central Catholic.