Parkland Girls Hoopsters Off to Quick Start

Basketball season is a three-month marathon and second-year Parkland High School head girls coach Wes Spence has fashioned a three-point plan designed for the entire winter.

"December is for learning and trying to come together. January is for trying to win games and that gets you into February," Spence said.

So far, December's learning experience is serving to lay the foundation for a fruitful season.

Parkland looks to improve last season's 13-10 overall record and an 8-6 Lehigh Valley Conference mark and registered two victories during their season-opening weekend. The Trojans defeated Dieruff, 39-23, in a George Yasso/Todd Rothrock Christmas City Classic game Dec. 11.

Parkland's first game of the year the prior evening was a little more dramatic. The Trojans flew out to a 14-point second quarter lead but needed to stave off a late challenge from a plucky Saucon Valley squad to register a 40-39 non-conference victory.

"It's a good positive start," Spence said following the Saucon Valley game. "Winning the opener was good thing and we'll continue to work on a lot of different things. It was a good learning experience. There are some good teams in the Colonial League. They gave us a fight last year at their place and we knew they'd be tough coming in here."

Parkland lost several starters to graduation entering the 2010-11 campaign and Spence is counting on several players who saw varsity action to fill the void.

Junior Olivia Hassler scored a game-high 17 points against Saucon Valley in the opener but was held scorless in the second half.

 "They (Saucon Valley) knew what we wanted to do," Spence said. "They did a great job with their half court game."

Against Dieruff, the Trojan offensive attack possessed much more balance with junior Jackie Oertner leading the way with nine points while Hassler and senior Monica Hagenauer contributing eight points each.

Parkland's offensive appeared more fluid against Dieruff, as the Trojans seemed to enjoy playing an up-tempo, fast break game. Several well-executed breaks resulted in easy field goals without the ball ever touching the floor.

"We're hoping to get better as the year goes on," Spence said. "We had a lot of girls graduate, but we're going to look to people such as Jess Fritchie, Hagenauer and Alissa Persichetti. They were all role players for us last year and we'll look for them to step up."

The Lehigh Valley Conference's North Division, which includes stalwart squads including Nazareth, Northampton and Whitehall, won't be easy for the Trojans to navigate. They'll start on that road Dec. 17 when they visit Nazareth in the regular-season LVC opener.