The Parkland girls basketball coaching staff scouted playoff opponent Dallastown and knew heading into Tuesday’s PIAA playoff game that the Wildcats played some of the strongest defense the Trojans have seen this season.

So Parkland made sure its defense was even better.

The Trojans pulled out a 35-31 win Tuesday at Governor Mifflin High School. The 35 points is Parkland’s lowest total of the season, but enough to survive and advance to Friday’s quarterfinal round.

“They’re extremely tough,” Parkland head coach Ed Ohlson said of Dallastown. “We saw that on the tapes. We knew it would be hard to score, but our goal was to make it harder for them to score and I think we did that. This was not going to be a high-scoring affair.”

The game was back and forth the whole way until the Trojans took over in the fourth quarter.

With a five-point lead and three minutes to play, Parkland (28-2) spread the floor and forced the Wildcats (27-4) to either foul or chase the Trojans until they got an open lay up.

But the York-Adams League champs tried to play straight up against the spread. They even forced a turnover and eventually closed the margin 31-29 with 48 seconds to play, but it was too late.

Parkland (28-2) made four of six foul shots in the last minute of the game to seal the win.

Talia Zurinskas led Parkland with 13 points, including three 3-pointers.

Isabella Hallal scored nine points in the game. The sophomore slipped through the Wildcat defense and made some key baskets in the game, including the team’s last basket of the fourth quarter to stretch lead to 31-26 with 3:00 left. That allowed the Trojans to spread the floor and slow down the game.

“Bella’s not a sophomore anymore. She’s a varsity basketball player,” said Ohlson. “She does as good of a job as anyone on our team at finding open spots. There’s a lot of concentration that goes on to three or four of those other players and she just kind of slides into that spot and get those baskets for us.”

Hallal said her teammates made the adjustment to varsity this year an easy transition.

“It’s because the people I have around me,” she said. “Talia and Madi [Siggins] are the best captains and best leaders. They took me under their wing and showed me what it’s like to play varsity basketball and I’m so appreciative.”

The Trojans got contributions from everyone in the line up in the win. All five starters recorded at least one assist in the game.

Siggins and Eneri McGalla might not have scored much in the game, but they controlled the boards. Siggins, who battled foul trouble beginning in the second quarter, pulled down eight rebounds to go with her six points. McGalla scored two points on late foul shots. The sophomore also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.

But Tuesday’s win was all about defense. Dallastown, the District 3 runner up, was held to its lowest offensive output of the season, although it was held to 31 twice before during the 2023-24 season.

“Our defense travels,” said Ohlson. “That’s been the backbone of this whole thing is the defense traveling and being able to play tough against these really good teams. Then when we get a lead, they do such a good job of holding the ball and stalling it out to get what we want. That’s our recipe right now.”

That recipe has helped the team taste success in the league and district playoffs. Now the EPC and District 11 champs are headed to the quarterfinal round of the state championship tournament. They will take on District 12 champ and defending state champ Archbishop Carroll (20-8) Friday at a site to be determined. The Patriots won states last year after taking third place in District 12.

Parkland got to the second round after beating Downingtown East 41-34 in the first round.

Siggins led Parkland with 19 points against Downingtown East, the 10th place team out of District 1. The East Stroudsburg University-bound senior poured in 10 first-quarter points to set the tone for the game. Parkland made six of eight free throws in the fourth quarter to seal that win.

Zurinskas scored seven points in the first round, while Addi Fritzinger and McGalla added six points each.

If the Trojans win Friday, they will advance to Monday’s semifinal.