The Parkland girls basketball provided its usual balanced scoring attack and strong team approach, but came up on the short end of a 50-34 score against Central Dauphin East in the first round of the PIAA Class AAAA playoffs last Friday night. Erin Bross and Sarah Stagaard each scored seven points for Parkland.

Things started well for the Trojans, who faced a tough full-court press from Central Dauphin East from the outset. The teams were tied 9-9 after the first quarter, but the middle part of the game proved to be the undoing for Parkland.

"We had the tempo that we wanted early on in the game and we made some shots early on," said Parkland head coach Wes Spence. "I thought we were making them play half-court basketball and we were knocking down the shots that we were getting early on.

"I thought we handled their full-court pressure pretty well, but in the middle part of the game, after breaking the press, we had trouble getting into a half-court offense and some possessions we had trouble getting shots and other possessions, we took quick shots."

Parkland finishes the season at 16-10 overall and 11-5 in the East Penn Conference. The team graduates six seniors ( Aubrey Beidelman, Erica Bross, Erin Bross, Alexis Koder, Sam O'Keefe and Brooke Robertson ) who all played key roles with the team.

The squad of seniors not only provided their own excitement, but enabled younger players to develop faster than they might have without the strong senior leadership.

"Our seniors did a fantastic job of showing the younger players how to be varsity players and leading our team," he said. "All six of our seniors brought something different that I thought really helped and having them this year was essential for the younger players to have an opportunity to grow."

Spence noted the growth of sophomore Emily Piston, who started the season as a JV player and finished as a varsity starter. He also believes that sophomore point guard Rachel Medlar contributed a lot considering that two senior point guards saw most of the playing time.

As for juniors, Sarah Stagaard took the step from being a rotation player to a full-time starter and Nadine Ewald earned an EPC All-Star Honorable Mention for her play this season.

"Looking forward, I was pleased with the development of our younger players this year, due to the help of the seniors," said Spence. "They've left a good mark on the program and they've left the program in a good position. The challenge is there for the next group coming up to try to maintain the level that we try to set."

Coming into the season, the team had a goal to be in position to play for championships and Spence is proud of the fact that the team made the conference, district and state playoffs, including playing in the District 11 semifinals.

While it didn't play in any championship games, reaching all three postseason tournaments is a good sign. Spence also gauges success by how players develop and how they carry themselves as representatives of Parkland. He believes they scored high marks in those areas, as well.

"We had a chance to play a lot of extra basketball this year and I think that's fantastic," said Spence. "Every one of those opportunities that you get are great, because they're never a guaranteed opportunity, so the fact that we were able to get those opportunities is, in my opinion, a sign of success. I'm going to move forward and call this a successful season."