Emmaus holds off Pleasant Valley

Emmaus and Pleasant Valley may not have the storied history of a rivalry between them. However, there is one brewing.

Entering the contest, the Green Hornets sported a 5-7 record, while the Bears had a 7-5 mark. With the end of the regular season quickly approaching, players and coaches recognized the value of a victory in the contest.

Throw into the mix that the Emmaus head coach is former East Stroudsburg South standout, Kelsey Gallagher, and it has the makings of a heated Eastern Pennsylvania Conference battle.

When the dust settled, Emmaus had escaped with a 55-48 win.

Throughout the game, the three-man official crew whistled 53 team fouls, as the aggressive nature of play was evident.

Early on, the victors’ pressure defense and balanced offense produced an early lead, and after one period, they were up 13-4. The halftime was still a comfortable, 26-17.

Gallagher knew better than to count out the Bears, however.

“I told the girls, PV always plays hard, they play tough and they play for pride, so no matter what the score was, we knew to not count them out and they battled back,” Gallagher said.

At the break, Pleasant Valley head coach Nadia Gauronsky drilled into her squad the importance of working harder on the rebounds, as they were being out-rebounded up to that point, 19-11.

That’s when the comeback started.

Increased Bear boards turned into fast break opportunities as Pleasant Valley cut the deficit to 34-30 on a pair of free throws from Alyssa Wagner.

However, turnovers crept into the Lady Bear arsenal and the Hornets took full advantage, ending the third frame on a 9-0 run, to go into the final eight minutes with a 43-30 lead.

From there, the Bears turned up the pressure and consistently forced the Hornets into turnovers. That led to a four and a half minute scoring drought for the Hornets, allowing PV to close to within 45-42 with 2:36 remaining.

“It was a difficult situation to see our starting center and our starting point guard pick up their fourth fouls early in the third period,” Gauronsky said. “But I’m really proud of the younger girls that came in and stepped up.

“Their effort was great and they did a great job of keeping us in it.”

Following a three-point play by Ashley Schwenck, the Bears cut into the lead again to make it 48-45 with 1:39 to go. However, the ‘parade to the free throw line’ began for the Hornets, who converted seven of 10 down the stretch to ice the win.

“With both teams fighting for their playoff lives, we knew to expect an extra aggressive game,” Gauronsky said. “However, being whistled for hand checks and bumps, it was frustrating.”

FOUL PLAY ... A total of 56 foul shots were attempted. Masani Francis, Mikaela Miller and Brianna Clark all fouled out for the Lady Bears, while Schwenck and Alexa Clark had four apiece.

JUST THE FACTS ... The Bears fall to 7-6, with starting shooting guard Cameron Caffrey looking to return to the lineup following a bout with being sick. Francis led the Bears with 12 points, despite seeing limited action. Emmaus improves to 6-7.

EMMAUS

Griffith 0-0-0-0, Fraction 1-0-0-2, Burkhart 2-0-0-4, Wunderler 2-0-0-5, Hart 7-5-8-19, Wippel 2-10-14-14, Navitsky 2-0-0-4, Tannous 0-3-6-3, DeJohn 0-4-5-4. TOTALS: 16-22-33-55.

PLEASANT VALLEY

Caffrey 3-1-2-7, O’Neil 0-0-0-0, B. Clark 3-1-1-7, Miller 0-0-0-0, A. Clark 2-0-0-4, Rosenberg 2-4-7-8, Francis 4-4-5-12, A. Wagner 1-3-4-5, Schwenck 2-1-4-5. TOTALS: 17-14-23-48.

Emmaus 13 13 17 12 - 55

Pleasant Valley 4 13 13 18 - 48

Three pointers: E - Wunderler 1; PV - none.