It took a while for the Whitehall girls basketball team to find their footing when they met Parkland in the opening round of the league playoffs, and when they finally did, time was no longer an ally.

The Zephs were trailing 35-15 after three periods, but once the final period started they woke up and went on an 8-0 run to slash the deficit to 35-22. Most of that work was done inside by Ivanna Jones and Jill Kreglow who each scored two buckets to get some momentum behind them in the last quarter as they began to make a charge.

But a Parkland three-pointer on their subsequent trip down the floor after Whitehall’s run was enough to prevent the Zephyrs from sustaining that momentum, and the Trojans cruised to the 40-26 win, advancing to the semifinals where they’ll face Northampton.

Heading into the tourney, the Zephyrs were on a roll, winning three consecutive games to close out the season, with one of those victories a 38-35 win over Parkland which was their first league loss of the year. That late season rally landed them a spot in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference tournament, a place they haven’t been since 2012 when they were part of the Lehigh Valley Conference.

The Zephyrs (14-8, 10-4 EPC) entered the EPC tourney as the eighth seed and were paired with No. 1 Parkland who were looking to exact a little payback for spoiling their perfect EPC season.

With that motivation behind them, Parkland quickly set the tone as they jumped on Whitehall early, taking a 12-5 lead after the first quarter. They were paced by Nadine Ewald who scored 11 points and grabbed 11 boards, the bulk of those coming in the first half.

As the Trojans dictated the action, what disturbed head coach Dwight Repsher the most was their inability to get the 50-50 balls.

“In the first three quarters, they beat us to every loose ball, every rebound,” said Repsher. “We didn’t execute things. We didn’t do the things we worked in practice yesterday until it was too late. Then we got some easy baskets in the fourth quarter and did the things we were supposed to do.”

One of the things Repsher was referring to was their inability to adjust to Parkland’s switches. He said they would switch Ewald out to set a screen, and then fail to account for the roll player. They fell victim to that high screen and roll a number of times.

“You have to watch for the screens and then you have to look for your roll men, and we didn’t do that,” said Repsher.

The fact they were opening on the road in the EPC Girls Basketball Championships, a tournament and setting that’s new to his team, may also have been a factor.

“It’s the first time the kids have ever done this and have ever been here,” said Repsher. “So maybe that was something. I don’t know.”

And even though they closed the season strong, he said they’ve been better at home than on the road.

The game was in sharp contrast to last Friday’s meeting when Whitehall was winning all the hustle plays. In that game, Jones was a force inside, while Taylor George was equally dominant from the perimeter setting the stage for the win. Parkland did a good job of counteracting that through three quarters. Still, the Zephs managed to get back into form in that fourth quarter, displaying that efficient ball movement that enabled them to get into the league tourney. They won that quarter 10-5.

“We played pretty well in that fourth quarter and stood around for three,” said Repsher.

The Zephs were led by Jones and Kreglow who each netted six points. George followed with four, while Kylee Cunningham, Alix Buskirk and Taylor Rummel each added three.

The Zephs will now regroup as they wait for the district tournament to begin next week.