Early on, it looked as if the Emmaus girls basketball team was capable of pulling the upset against unbeaten Parkland in a rivalry EPC battle. The Hornets trailed by just a bucket after the first quarter and led 21-20 midway through the second period.

But when Parkland needed it most, the Trojans strung together a run with defense that Emmaus never recovered from.

The Trojans (10-2 overall, 7-0 in EPC) finished the first half on a 9-2 spurt to gain some breathing room going into the break with a seven-point lead. That lead ballooned to as many as 15 points in the third quarter due in large part to seven Emmaus (6-7, 2-5) turnovers before Parkland kept its EPC record unblemished with a 64-45 victory last Tuesday evening.

“The first half was fun basketball,” Emmaus head coahc Carl Scheitrum said. “I think that might have been as fun of a whole half as we’ve played. Parkland is always a great team, and we expected them to come out hard.”

The Trojans didn’t live up to head coach Wes Spence’s expectations until that second half whistle sounded.

After Emmaus’ first turnover of the third quarter that resulted in a Nadine Ewald (14 points) steal, a pass flung up court resulted in an uncontested layup by Rachel Medlar not even a minute into action. Emily Piston (14 points) swiped a Hornet ball-handler moments later and set up Ewald for an easy bucket that gave Parkland its first double-digit lead at 36-26.

“They played a really good defensive second half,” Scheitrum said. “And again, I even told our girls, because our defense got a little bit soft we seemed to then get out of our offensive flow. The poor defense led to not getting into a good offensive routine either.

“It was more so because our defensive intensity that we had in the first half wasn’t the same in the second half. It doesn’t take long for a good team to pick you apart if you’re not playing solid defense.”

Emmaus scored just 10 points in that third quarter to go with its seven turnovers. And while Briana Hart (11) Jenna Lessel (9) and company kept the Hornets within at least striking distance-trailing 58-45 with 3:23 to play-Parkland was able to hit their free throws down the stretch.

Compared to an 11-for-14 shooting effort from the foul line for Parkland in the fourth quarter alone, Emmaus made just nine of its 21 attempts from the game.

“Frankly, had we made our foul shots, we would have been tied or maybe even up in the start of the second half,” Scheitrum said. “That’s been our Achilles heel all of a sudden the last couple of games. We have to work on that again at practice.”

Cayley Grabowski and Destanee Watkins seven points each for the Hornets who responded by winning one of their next two games. After a 80-59 loss to Allen on Friday, Emmaus got back to its winning ways with a 63-34 non-league win over Reading.

“I give these girls so much credit for the effort they put in,” Scheitrum said. “They’re playing really hard. They’re playing against some of the best teams in the whole Lehigh Valley, and they are giving their effort every night.”