Even with a disappointing 51-31 loss to Easton in the District 11 semifinals, there is still plenty of work for Parkland to do on the court this season.

The loss moved the Lady Trojans (18-7) into the third-place game to determine finishers in the district, which will affect seeding for the PIAA Tournament, which starts next weekend.

Parkland will play Northampton (16-9) at Freedom High School Thursday at 6 p.m.. The Konkrete Kids lost to defending champion and top-seed Nazareth 53-42.

Easton (23-4) came out firing on all cylinders against Parkland, with Kyla Smith and Shelby Stocker hitting early three-pointers, and the Red Rovers never looked back. Gabby Bloshuk was an assist machine for Easton, in addition to scoring a game-high 14 points.

Parkland’s Kassidy Stout won the inside battle with Easton’s Mackenzie Miers, outscoring Miers 11-6 in the game, but Easton found open looks at the basket and frustrated the Parkland offense. The Trojans managed just six points in the opening quarter and just four in the third quarter when they fell behind 33-20.

Parkland head coach Wes Spence knew his team was going to be facing a tough opponent in Easton, even though it hadn’t played the Red Rovers during the regular season or in the postseason.

“They present a big challenge,” said Spence, whose team handled the inside game, but struggled to keep Easton from hitting outside shots. “They have girls who are going to shoot the ball from the outside, and they have girls who crash the boards and can post you up inside.

To advance to the semifinal matchup, Parkland downed Freedom 65-54 last week. Last season, Parkland lost in the quarters and missed playing in the PIAA Tournament. With the win over the Patriots, the Trojans secured a spot in states, which Spence thought would loosen his team up for the rest of the district tournament.

“That was definitely something that drove them,” he said after the win over Freedom. “They wanted to make sure that we were able to try to take that next step this year and get to the state playoffs.

“I think it takes some of the pressure off now that we’ve gotten past that, but at the same time, I think the girls realize that we can’t let up now.”

Parkland had three players in double-digits against Freedom, with seniors Emily Piston and Rachel Medlar scoring 19 and 11 points, respectively, and Stout, a sophomore, scoring 15 in the quarterfinal game.

One key for Parkland was its ability to get to the foul line and then make foul shots. Parkland got to the foul line 41 times against Freedom and hit 28 of those shots, with Piston leading the way, hitting nine of 12 free shots.

“That’s a team that’s very aggressive and tries to be disruptive,” said Spence. “I think the fact that we were able to handle that pressure and we were able to attack it, draw fouls or get finishes was very key for us.”

Parkland beat the Kids twice during the regular season, with Piston scoring 23 points in the two games, Devyn Anderson picking up 22, and Medlar scoring 21 combined points for the Lady Trojans.

Following the Parkland-Northampton game, Nazareth (22-4) will look to win its fourth straight district championship when it takes on Easton.

No matter the outcome of Thursday’s game, Parkland will be off until next Friday when it will face either the number-two team from District 12, if they beat Northampton or the number-four team from District 1 if they lose. Parkland’s last state title came in 2006 when the Trojans finished the season 31-3 overall.