The landscape of the Lehigh Valley Conference championship game all of a sudden looks significantly different than what many expected.

Moments after Nazareth defeated Central Catholic in the first semifinal matchup, fourth-seeded Parkland had upset on its mind against No. 1 seed Bethlehem Catholic, who hadn't lost a conference game all year.

And thanks in large part to an 11-2 run to close out the game, the Trojans outlasted the Hawks Tuesday night at Easton Middle School for a 60-54 win. The victory advanced the Trojans into Friday night's championship game, where they'll meet the Blue Eagles for the third time this season.

"I'm happy for the kids," said head coach Wes Spence. "They were focused from the first minute they stepped on the floor to the end of that game."

Following a Trojan steal by Hannah Gombos that resulted in a transition layup by Olivia Brown, Parkland took a 53-52 lead with 2:20 to play after leading by five to start the fourth quarter.

The Hawks got to within 55-54, but the Trojans made five of their final six free throws to ice the game, including Brown's pair with 11.1 seconds remaining that put Parkland ahead by four.

"We came this far and I wasn't going to let Becahi take that away from us," said Brown. "Whenever we got the ball we tried to look to score. And we did, and look at the outcome.

"No one thought we could come out and do this. And we won. It's a great feeling."

When it seemed as if the Hawks were poised to pull away in the second quarter after a 7-0 run put them up by nine, the Trojans responded and closed out the quarter positively - a theme that carried them through the night. The Trojans scored 11 of the final 13 points in the second quarter and led 29-28 at halftime.

While the Hawks tied it at 39 in the third, the Trojans maintained their lead for virtually the entire quarter and led by five going into the final eight minutes.

"I think every time they made a run back at us, our kids were able to push back at them," said Spence. "The confidence just grew, that we knew that coming down to that last four minutes we could play with this team. We can score on this team, we can stop this team and we can win this game."

Brown had six of her team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter. Missy Oertner added 12 points and Callie Krajcir tallied 11 and seven rebounds.

"This is one I will always remember," said Brown. "It was a great game and it was unforgettable."

Tipoff for Friday's title game is 6 p.m. at Easton Middle School.