After two disappointing losses at the end of January to Bethlehem Catholic and Minersville, Jeff Jacksits and the Northampton girls basketball team were determined to turn things around.

The goal was to finish the season winning their final six games. While that won’t happen, the team enters their final contest of the season on Feb. 8 (past Press deadlines) with a 4-1 mark in this span. The team will play Parkland before opening the EPC playoffs on Friday, Feb. 10..

“The back-to-back losses to Becahi and Minersville were tough,” said Jacksits recently. “I think we will take that two-day experience and learn from it. We had a team meeting to go over what we as a team are looking to accomplish. We all agreed that we are striving for a place in the league playoffs. We talked about finishing strong and carrying momentum into the playoffs. The girls really [wanted] to finish the last six games at 6-0.”

The girls did beat some tough opponents in this stretch, starting with wins over Whitehall and Liberty, which are both down this year, but also knocking off tough Emmaus and Nazareth teams - both of which happened on the road.

The girls dropped a 57-54 contest to Pocono Mountain East on Monday to break their four-game win streak. However, they appear to be safely in the league playoffs, which was one of their goals.

“The coaching staff believes that if the girls can realize their roles in the game and at practice and we continue to work hard and play together, we can and should make a deep run in the playoffs,” Jacksits said.

Senior Aja Blount continues to lead the way and Jacksits said she’s been playing outstanding, averaging a double-double for the year (23 points, 12 rebounds as of last week). Blount scored an impressive 33 points in the team’s victory over Nazareth, a revenge game from earlier this season.

Jacksits said Blount has been getting help from Victoria Keenan and Jenna Rogers. On the defensive side of the ball, Blount leads the team in rebounds and Rogers leads in blocked shots. Devon Saul continues to draw teams’ best offensive players.

“We have been getting better with our defensive assignments and communication which will be a big key to our success over the next few weeks,” Jacksits said.

The Kids look like a safe bet to make the EPC playoffs with one game remaining, but could be headed for another matchup with Parkland in the opening round. Wednesday’s game with the Trojans could end up being for home-court advantage. If the Kids win, it will come down to tiebreakers. Both schools would have 12-4 league marks, but the Kids would own a better division record at that point (8-2 vs. 7-3).

A Pocono Mt. East win and a Kids loss could mean the Kids fall to sixth in the standings, setting up a potential first-round matchup with Nazareth or Easton, which both sit at 13-2.

Becahi is 16-0 and has earned the top seed. The Hawks could see Stroudsburg or Freedom in the first round. Nazareth and Easton are battling for the two and three seeds but will host first round games.

Allen has an outside shot to make the tournament sitting at 8-7, but would need a win and losses from either the Pates or the Mounties and even then it would come down to tiebreakers.

EPC

As of Feb. 5

Top-8 make playoffs

Bethlehem Cath 16-0

Nazareth 13-2

Easton 13-2

Parkland 12-3

Northampton 11-4

Pocono East 10-5

Freedom 9-6

Stroudsburg 9-6

Allen 8-7

Emmaus 7-8

Central Catholic 7-8

Pleasant Valley 7-9

Pocono West 5-10

Whitehall 4-11

Eastburg North 2-13

Liberty 2-14

Dieruff 1-15

Eastburg South 0-15