Just three days after upsetting Bethlehem Catholic in the LVC semifinals, a Nazareth team stood in the way of the Parkland girls basketball team who were vying to add another conference championship to their collection.

But despite defeating the conference's premier team in their journey to the title game, it was the Blue Eagles who set the tone early and often against the Trojans last Friday night at Easton Area Middle School.

The Blue Eagles - who held the Trojans scoreless for nearly the entire first quarter - jumped out to an early 9-0 margin that was never really threatened. That lead ballooned to double digits early in the second half and the Blue Eagles became conference champions with a 34-17 victory.

"I really thought Nazareth came out and was a very aggressive basketball team," said head coach Wes Spence. "They really tried to disrupt everything we were doing with physical play."

Allison Cressman's foul line jumper gave the Trojans their first points of the game with 45 seconds to play in the first quarter. Prior to that bucket, the Trojans were 0-for-6 from the field and turned the ball over four times.

Missed shots and costly Missed shots and costly turnovers was the theme of the night for the Trojans.

"Putting yourself in a hole, I think you're pressed to want to make every next play the perfect play to try to bring yourself back in," said Spence. "Then you start doing things that are uncharacteristic."

The Trojans were forced into five turnovers and made just one of six field goal attempts in the second quarter. The only difference was the Blue Eagles' production compared to the first quarter, as they were held to just two points and allowed the Trojans to get to within seven at halftime.

"It's an issue we have from time-to-time," said Spence. "We struggle to put the ball in the basket. I thought our girls played great defense."

"We struggled to execute on the offensive end. We can attribute that to a lot of different things. I'm going to give Nazareth a lot of credit for the way they came out tonight. They were a very aggressive team [and] they were a very physical team on the defensive end.

The Blue Eagles separated themselves in the third quarter, outscoring the Trojans 10-2 and once again relying on their defense to result in opportunities on offense. Back-to-back Blue Eagle three-pointers made it 21-8 with roughly 5:30 to play in the third.

The Trojans shot just 20 percent (7-for-35) from the field and committed 12 turnovers for the game.

Missy Oertner had a team-high seven points, all coming after halftime.