The third-seeded Emmaus High School girls basketball team was in a close game through the first quarter of last week’s East Penn Conference quarterfinal against sixth seed Central Catholic last Friday night.

A strong second quarter allowed the Hornets to pull away from the Vikettes and continue with their title defense as they won the game 74-36 at Emmaus High School.

It is the fifth consecutive appearance at EPCs for Emmaus, which downed Bethlehem Catholic for the title last season, the program’s first in 18 years.

In the opening quarter against Central, the two teams combined for 37 points and the Hornets led 20-17 at the end of the frame. From that point on, Emmaus and its defense locked in, allowing just 19 points the rest of the way, while outscoring CCHS 17-2 in the second quarter to go into the locker room at halftime on top 37-19.

The Hornets outscored the Vikettes 20-11 in the third quarter and then 17-6 in the fourth quarter to claim the 38-point victory.

It was the third win on the year for Emmaus over Central and the second year in a row the two teams have met in the EPC quarters with the Hornets winning.

Gabby DeVita led all scorers with a game-high 22 points. Olive Whitney and Gracie Ervin both tallied 12 points. Eva Glover recorded nine points. Sierra Stevens finished with seven points. Makayla McGinnis totaled four points, Kaitlyn Grochowski netted three points and each of Gabby East and Olivia Haberl rounded out the scoring with two points.

Emmaus advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals against Bethlehem Catholic. That game was played after Press deadline.

The Hornets fell to the Golden Hawks 50-35 in the regular season back on Ja.12. The other semifinal round matchup featured top seed Easton against fourth seed Parkland. The winners will play Thursday night in the championship game at PPL Center at 6 p.m.