Summer league basketball can be a struggle for programs that are breaking in new starters, have inexperienced varsity players or new plays to implement. Another thing that can get in the way of a varsity team’s summer experience are AAU Tournaments.

Last weekend at the Bash at the Beach tournament at Cedar Beach, the Parkland girls basketball program had to deal with a number of different issues in trying be competitive and win games in a difficult event. The Trojans were shorthanded in a big way, without two potential starters because of injury and minus some others because of other prior commitments.

Parkland fielded an A and a B team, which were its varsity and JV teams, respectively. Both squads finished 1-2 overall in the double-elimination style tournament.

“With four or five starters missing this weekend, it was a great chance for our other players to show how they could contribute to this year’s team,” said Trojan head coach Ed Ohlson. “All of our games were competitive and even though we went 1-2, we liked the effort and the balance of the team overall.”

In their opening game Friday night, Parkland varsity defeated Whitehall B 38-17 behind a game-high 10 points from Zoey Wilkinson. But the next day, the Trojans were downed by both Liberty and Whitehall A to end their tournament run.

“We played inside all of spring, so playing outside for the first time probably hurt us a little bit,” Ohlson said. “We faced some stiff competition. The teams we played were good and I think our girls got better overall because of the competition we faced.”

Ohlson singled out Sonya Shivok, a rising junior, for outstanding play and the leadership she showed.

He also mentioned Wilkinson and Ashley Young as bright spots to the team as younger players.

Unlike the varsity, the JV dropped its opener to Allen A 45-22 Friday night.

But the team bounced back Saturday morning taking down Emmaus B 29-22 as Kelsey Mana tallied a team-high 10 points. However, that evening, Catasauqua eliminated the Trojans’ B team in a down-to-the-wire game 28-25.

Ohlson noted his JV team was led by Kelsey Mang, who played with a lot of heart and scored well but also defended well. He stated that Paige Spang and Grace Nation also had good weekends for Parkland.