The Parkland High School girls basketball team fell short of its goal of an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship, losing in the semifinal round. But the Trojans have been known for their glory in the District 11 6A Tournament of late, winning two titles in-a-row and three of the last four.

Second-seeded Parkland opened districts in style with a 53-18 victory over seventh-seeded Freedom last Friday night at Catasauqua High School. But the Trojans won’t be going for a three-peat as they met their match in the semifinal round, falling to third-seeded Emmaus in the rubber match of the 2025-26 season, 47-44, Tuesday night at Whitehall High School.

It was the third meeting between the two teams this year, with Emmaus winning the opener 51-45 back on Dec. 20, and Parkland taking the second game of the regular season 58-51 on Jan. 30.

The district semifinal was back and forth and a physical contest with each team going on runs and each team looking sloppy with turnovers. In the end, the Hornets proved to be a little bit more physical and had a couple more chances go their way.

“We have to be stronger than we were tonight,” said Parkland head coach Ed Ohlson. “These are always really good games against a great team. In this atmosphere and this type of game, we have to be more physical. They were able to dictate the pace and had more success on both sides of the ball.”

Emmaus scored the first five points and showed a lot of energy, going up 10-3 midway through the opening quarter.

Parkland scored 11 unanswered points, capped by an Aneri McGalla 3-pointer to lead 14-12 after one quarter.

The Hornets answered with eight consecutive points to begin the second, and had 10 straight spanning to the end of the first to go on top 20-14. McGalla and Cheryllana Cunningham connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to cut their team’s deficit to 24-23 at halftime.

Trailing 28-25 early in the third quarter, Isabella Hallal drained a shot from long distance to tie the score and then the Trojans climbed the advantage to 31-28 and a Savannah Gonzalez layup just before the buzzer put her team ahead 33-30 after three.

“I thought the girls did a great job there late in the second quarter and in the third,” Ohlson said. “They played hard and we hit some shots, but it started on defense with their intensity. We needed to just keep that going the rest of the way.”

Parkland went up by as many as five (37-32) early in the fourth quarter, but Emmaus finished the game on a 15-6 run to take the game. The Trojans trailed 43-41 with just over a minute to go, and then Cunningham tied it with a layup.

Gabby DeVita then hit a turnaround shot fading away from the basket to put the Hornets back on top 45-43 with :45 left.

Parkland was unable to tie or take the lead on its ensuing possession. DeVita iced it with two free throws on the other end.

Cunningham finished with 13 points and McGalla tallied 10. Hallal recorded eight points and Carly Spang totaled six.

In the victory over the Patriots, Parkland took a 13-6 lead after one and outscored Freedom 40-12 the rest of the way. Cunningham led the team with 12 points and both Spang and Hallal had eight.

Parkland, which is now 18-6 overall, will take on fourth-seeded Nazareth in the consolation game on Friday night. The winner will head to the PIAA playoffs while the losing team’s season will come to an end.

The Hornets advanced to the district final to take on top-seeded Easton Friday night.