Bears advance to quarterfinals

One play.

Sometimes all it takes is one nifty game-changing play to sway the momentum.

With Pleasant Valley trailing by eight to Pocono Mountain West late in the first half of their District 11 6A first round matchup on Tuesday, the Bears’ Madison Rosenberg came through with that play.

Rosenberg got creative. While passing the ball from out of bounds underneath her own basket, the junior bounced the ball off the back of an unaware West defender. She then scored after collecting the ball off the self pass, which closed the PV deficit to six going into the half.

Rosenberg’s savvy play got the engines started for her team. The Bears put together a big second half to come away with a 50-44 victory.

With the win, eighth-seeded Pleasant Valley will now take on No. 1 seed Easton in the quarterfinals Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Whitehall.

“This is a good win for our young group of players, it’s a great group of girls that I really enjoy coaching and it’s also great to see them get better,” said Bears head coach Nadia Gauronsky. “Closing out this game and showing resiliency battling back, it’s just a great confidence boost for us and it’s a great experience building momentum for them as well.”

Pleasant Valley’s resilient effort started early on.

Pocono Mountain West coupled strong dribble drives to the hoop — and a dominating performance on the offensive glass ­— to jump out to a nine-point lead with 5:06 remaining in the first half.

Jameeka Pilgrim led the charge for the Panthers, slicing and dicing through the lane to earn 11 first-half points.

The Bears hung around, however, using Rosenberg’s play to trail by just six heading into the half.

“The girls did a great job of executing our adjustments in the second half,” said Gauronsky. “We were able to take advantage of their aggressive defense by going back door, and then we also did a much better job on the offensive boards.”

Pleasant Valley certainly adjusted by going on huge runs at the beginning of the third and fourth quarters to capture the win.

The Bears’ first run in the third frame was an 8-0 spurt fueled by impressive transition offense and six straight points by Brianna Clark. That run gave PV a two-point lead — its first since early in the first quarter.

Pleasant Valley’s final run in the fourth keyed the victory. Trailing by one to start the period, PV went on a 12-0 run, putting them up 11 with three minutes remaining. West made things interesting by closing within four with 30 seconds to play, but the Bears were able to run out the clock and advance to the quarterfinals.

LEADERS ... Masani Francis was the offensive catalyst for the Bears, scoring 15 points, while Clark added 12. For West, Pilgrim tallied a game-high 18 points.

TURNOVER TOWN ... The two teams know each other well, and it showed on the defensive end as both defenses did a good job of forcing turnovers. The Bears and Panthers each turned it over 20 times.

PM WEST

Weirich 2 0-0 4, Pilgrim 7 2-2 18, Knecht 2 0-0 4, Malone 1 0-0 2, Simmons 0 0-0 0, Wiggins 3 0-0 7, Leonard 2 1-2 5, Owens 2 0-0 4. Totals: 19 3-4 44.

PLEASANT VALLEY

R. Wagner 2 0-0 4, Caffrey 2 0-0 4, B. Clark 5 3-4 13, A. Clark 4 0-0 8, Rosenberg 2 2-5 6, Francis 7 1-5 15, A. Wagner 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 6-14 50.

PM West 14 12 11 7 - 44

Pleasant Valley 10 10 16 14 - 50

Three-pointers: PM West - Pilgrim 1, Wiggins 1. Pleasant Valley - None.