Once again, the daunting defense of the Lady Trojans combined with their go-with-who’s-hot offensive approach resulted in a win for Parkland in the opening round of the Eastern Pennsylvania Confernece girls tournament.

Parkland downed Pocono Mountain East 44-28 to advance to the semifinals of the tournament where they faced top-seed Bethlehem Catholic. (That game was played Wednesday, after Press deadlines.)

Parkland used long-range tactics early in the game, with Rachel Medlar and Claire Courter hitting early three-pointers. Medlar dropped in two of them, including one just before the end of the first quarter, to give Parkland an 11-6 lead. Whether it was that last second shot or just Parkland wearing down the Cardinals, Pocono Mountain was never really able to mount much of a challenge after that point.

“Those shots were just available,” said Parkland head coach Wes Spence. “We have kids that we feel very confident in shooting them and we’re going to play teams that, because of [Kassidy Stout] playing inside, are just going to collapse the paint and not give you anything easy inside. We have players who are very confident in just stepping up and knocking down shots.”

Stout was a presence inside and on defense. She was a menace to the Cardinals, pulling down one rebound after another.

Medlar finished the first half as Parkland’s top scorer with six points and Stout had five. The second half though was all about junior Julia Buchman, who scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half to lead all scorers.

“They went box-and-one and triangle-and-two, which we don’t normally see, so it was an adjustment for us, but we settled in and when they let Jules [Buchman] go, we were able to take advantage of that,” noted Spence.

Parkland’s offensive philosophy is to go with whoever has the hot hand or the opposing defense is ignoring. Often times, that switches throughout the game and Parkland has made their season a success, in part because of their ability to find what works.

“We all have that energy from the start and we try to get out to early leads, and Kassidy and Rachel set the pace,” Buchman said. “From there, we just keep that energy going, stay unselfish and find a way to put points on the board. We all share the ball very well and finish our opportunities.

“In the first half, we weren’t too happy with how we defended, but we came back stronger in the second half and I think we frustrated them a little, so it helped us.”

The win moves fourth-seeded Parkland into a matchup with Bethlehem Catholic. The two teams met earlier this season at Parkland, with the Golden Hawks grabbing a 45-39 win. The other semifinal matchup has Nazareth (20-3), the tournament’s number-three seed, going up against Easton (20-3), who comes in seeded second in the EPC.

“We’re playing very well right now,” said Buchman. “We have a lot of confidence and we just seem to work so well together. That’s something that just comes from getting to know each other and it’s just a matter of finding out who’s hot that particular night or what we may be able to take advantage of offensively.”

Parkland is in pursuit of its first conference title since the 2005-2006 season, when they also went on to become state champions. The Lady Trojans will also play in the District 11 Tournament, which they last won in 2013-2014. The district playoffs begin next week.