A three-game winning streak has Parkland (10-4 overall, 7-3 EPC) on the verge of clinching a spot in the district playoffs and has them in good shape for a spot in the EPC tournament at the end of the regular season. The latest win was a 42-33 win at Pleasant Valley and came on the heels of wins over Dieruff and Southern Lehigh.

Lindsay Berger has been the big scorer for Parkland, having hit for 20 against both Southern Lehigh and Pleasant Valley. Against Dieruff, it was Carissa Foght who led the team with 11 points while Berger chipped in with nine in the 46-25 win.

“Lindsay is just so good for us and she’s playing really well right now,” said Parkland head coach Ed Ohlson. “It’s funny because she’s a junior, but she’s got the abilities and poise of a senior out on the court. She has a lot of respect from her teammates and the coaches all love working with her.”

Parkland endured a stretch where it lost two out of three, falling to Freedom (12-2, 8-2) and Pocono Mountain West (6-5, 6-4) with a win over East Stroudsburg South (4-9, 3-7) wedged between the two losses. If you go back to before the Christmas break, Parkland had lost four-of-six games after having opened the season with five straight wins.

“We played some tough teams in that stretch and a lot of it was just that those teams played us really well and are always difficult to beat,” explained Ohlson. “Teams like Nazareth (13-1, 9-0) and Dunmore are really good teams, so part of it was just a difficult part of the schedule. We do have a young team and sometimes young players hit a bit of a wall and struggle for a bit, but I think that we’ve got ourselves back to where we need to be pretty much and we’ll be okay. The girls’ effort hasn’t changed. It’s always top notch.”

The schedule doesn’t have too many games against weak opponents. Parkland’s two remaining nonconference games are against Central Bucks East (10-3, 6-1 Suburban One) and Cumberland Valley (8-2, 6-1 Mid-Penn). In league play, Parkland faces teams with a combined record of 55-32 overall and a combined EPC record of 33-25. Rematches with teams that Parkland beat to open the season come up against Allentown Central Catholic (10-5, 6-4) and Northampton (12-3, 7-3) and an Emmaus team that has put together a five-game winning streak to get to 7-7 overall and 4-6 on the season. Only one remaining opponent – Whitehall (5-10, 2-8) - has an overall record below the .500 mark.

“There aren’t any easy games left for us, so we’re going to have to fight for everything that we get,” said Ohlson. “The EPC is full of good teams that can knock each other off and we have to be aware of that. Of course, the good news is that other teams could get knocked off, too.

“This is where we get to see who can step up for us through the rest of the season and help get us to where we need to be.”