The Parkland High School girls basketball team finished off a successful 2025-26 season, going 20-7 overall and 14-2 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. The Trojans were EPC and District 11 6A semifinalists, qualifying for the state tournament. They won their first game at states before falling to Hazleton in the second round.

Head coach Ed Ohlson was pleased with how his team ended its season and the year overall.

“I think the 2025-26 season was a good year for our program and our team,” said Ohlson. “We had a lot of contributors from our seniors and we were able to get a lot of experience for our underclassmen.

“The league was very top heavy this year and the difference between the top four or five teams was very small. If you look at the league and district championships, you’ll see that no team ran away with any of the games in the semis and finals of play.”

In a season where there was a lot of parity among the top teams in the league and districts, all of Parkland’s losses this winter came against teams that reached the state playoffs. The Trojans’ four regular season losses came against a pair of District 3 teams in Wilson West Lawn, which won a state playoff game, and Red Lion, which won two games in states, as well as District 11 finalists Easton and Emmaus.

Parkland graduates eight seniors, including Brooke Ackerman, Kate Blenis, Addison Fritzinger, Savannah Gonzalez, Isabella Hallal, Haley Hudson, Aneri McGalla and Katie Sammarco.

“A big part of our success was our senior class,” Ohlson said. “Isabella, Addison and Savannah did a good job of leading the entire team and our other seniors, Aneri, Kate, Katie, Hailey and Brooke really were constants throughout the year.

“Because of the strength of the team, we were able to start everyone on our team and all our seniors got multiple starts during the season. We had a lot of seniors in this class playing in their third year of varsity basketball and they recorded their third 20-win season in a row, only accomplished by two other teams in Parkland girls basketball history.”

McGalla, who was an all-league player, will be furthering her athletic and academic career at Rochester University, while Gonzalez will be going to Widener University to play. Hallal, another all-league player, will be attending East Stroudsburg University to play soccer in the fall.

The season had a lot of highlights for the longtime head coach.

“We had several really good games this year, even in losses I think the girls really played well,” said Ohlson. “Personally, the one I will remember is the comeback win over Nazareth in our league playoff game. Down 25-3 in the second quarter the girls battled back to win on a last-second shot by Cheryllana Cunningham, 43-42.

“The first part of the game was forgettable, but the second part will always be special. The fortitude and passion which the players fought back with will always be something they can remember and embrace for the rest of their lives. Experiences like that show you what you can do if you truly believe in yourself and those around you.”

Ohlson and his staff are excited about what is to come next season.

“The coaches are really excited about the group coming back,” Ohlson said. “Even though we are losing eight seniors we are bringing back a group of seven really dedicated underclassmen. Cheryllana, Arielle Brown and Carly Spang were starters through most of the season. Yana Smaltz and Morgan Volpe came off the bench and got valuable playing time this year. Two freshmen, Tatina Rico-Gray and Gwen McWilliams will also compete for playing time and a good JV team will bolster the rest of the roster.

“The freshmen team, our middle school teams and our feeder programs all have a lot of future players on them so the future is bright for Parkland girls basketball.”