With tough nonconference opponents like Scranton Prep and Penn Wood and the first of two match-ups with new division rival Central Catholic dotting the schedule, the first six games of the season have provided a tough stretch of games for the Parkland girls basketball team.

Those three games resulted in three losses for Parkland, giving coach Wes Spence a foothold on what needs to improve.

"We're in a position where we're developing, I think is the word that I would use," he said. "We've had an opportunity against teams where we've been able to see what some of our deficiencies are and areas where we need to get better as a team or I need to get better as a coach as far as instruction and things that we need to be doing to move forward.

"Our goal is to grow and get better as the season goes on and hopefully, the wins take care of themselves."

Spence believes his team's 50-26 win over Harrisburg in last weekend's Fleetwood Holiday Shootout is a first step in fixing some issues and setting a course for the rest of the season.

Parkland came out a little soft against the Cougars, but turned things around quickly and wound up dominating the game in the second half. Junior Nadine Ewald picked up a game-high 16 points for Parkland in the win over Harrisburg, and she also believes that the game could mark a turning point in the season.

"I think it's a good start," Ewald said. "If we keep on playing the way we're playing, it's going to be a lot easier for us winning games. If we all play together and contribute enough, it will be enough for us to continue to win."

In a 45-26 loss to Central Catholic, the Trojans weren't able to get on track offensively or defensively and were consistently out-rebounded by the Vikettes, who took advantage of multiple chances on many of the trips down the floor.

For Ewald, the loss to Central Catholic brought about some realizations on what she can do to help the team over the rest of the season.

"I saw that I needed to step it up and start contributing more and be a more active player inside the paint and try my hardest with everything that I do," Ewald said.

Rebounding has been an issue for the team this season, which is an area that the Lady Trojans didn't figure to struggle in, especially since they've got good size and are athletic. Spence believes that the best way to fix the problem is to start focusing on what the players have to do to prevent teams from getting multiple opportunities to score.

"Last weekend [against Penn Wood], we didn't make that a focus for us and it's something that we typically do a pretty good job of and for whatever reason, we've had a lapse where we didn't rebound well," he said. "[Against Harrisburg] we really tried to make that a focus. Early on, we allowed them to get some of those and then we really tried to find a girl and put a body on a girl to secure rebounds. I think the girls did an excellent job in executing what we asked them to do."

The Trojans enter a stretch of six conference games in a row, ending with undefeated Nazareth on January 16. The first five teams that they'll face - Emmaus, Easton, Freedom, Pocono Mountain West and Dieruff - have a combined mark of 19-18 on the season, providing some winnable games. Division foes Nazareth (6-0, 9-0) and Central Catholic (4-0, 8-1) are looking to run away from the rest of the division, with Parkland having slipped to two games behind the Blue Eagles and the Vikettes already having one win over the Lady Trojans this season.