The history between Pleasant Valley and Lehighton is extensive, dating back decades, and producing some high quality games over time. As members of the old Centennial League and Mountain Valley Conference, the two rivals battled hard and produced excitement. With the two teams now participating in seperate leagues, their nonleague tilts will still manage to produce the same intensity.

Saturday night's match-up on the Tribe's 'Senior Night,' proved to be no exception, as Pleasant Valley built a second half lead and held on down the stretch for the 56-44 win.The Lady Bears (9-10) utilized their height difference to out-rebound the Lady Indians 40-30 and convert on some Tribe turnovers, yielding fast-break lay-ups in the fourth frame to seal the win. The Bears' freshman guard Masani Francis produced two big shots to halt Lehighton's momentum near the early stages of the fourth period.Senior forward Celina Fital put back a miss to open the final session to cut her team's deficit to 42-37. However, Francis nailed a trey for the Bears, and following an Indian misue, made the fast break lay-up at the other end, pushing the winners' lead back up to ten, 47-37, with just under six minutes to play."Lehighton has improved and I tried to tell the girls that before the game," Pleasant Valley head coach Nadia Gauronsky said. "After last night's game, I think our girls came out a little bit gassed. In the second half I think Masani really did a nice job of building our momentum for us."In the early stages of the game, the Bears' Kiki Russell scored six of her game-high 17 points in the first eight minutes to help build a 15-9 edge after one period."As a captain, a leader, the point guard and a floor general out there, I had to take what I had available to me," Russell mentioned. "It was a gut check to me at times, because Lehighton played great. I had to take control at times and it helped to give energy to my teammates, too, so it worked well."After building up that lead, Lehigthon showed why its one of the most improved teams in the area, battling back to tie the game at halftime at 23-all. Allie Rossino, Fital and Aubrey Blasiak all scored four points to help their team fight back."There's never any quit in these girls," Lehighton head coach Eric Gidney said. "They play all 32 minutes, no matter the score, they're relentless and attacking and yet, they managed to stay within the gameplan and stay within themselves out there. I'm proud of their effort tonight and the way they played."In the third quarter, both sides had big shots before the Lady Bears pulled away as Russell scored the first seven points, helping her team out to a 32-24 edge early in the session. However, the Tribe cut it to five early in the fourth.Both teams' coaches are pleased with where their teams stand at this point in the season, as both have chances to return to postseason play. Pleasant Valley needs to win two of its three remaining games to enter district play, while the Tribe needs to win its remaining two to get to districts."The fact that the girls are playing meaningful games at this point of the season is just outstanding and I couldn't be prouder of their efforts," Gidney said.In the game, Russell led all scorers with her 17 points, while Francis followed with 11.For the Indians, Fital hit for 14 points and freshman Aubrey Blasiak hit three treys, on her way to 13.PLEASANT VALLEYSullivan 3-0-0-7, Covart 2-2-2-7, Miller 1-0-0-2, Francis 5-0-0-11, Benjamin 2-0-0-5, Russell 5-6-6-17, Fields 2-1-2-5, Milos 1-0-0-2, Jones 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-9-10-56.@Agate.WUSA.Gl.Bold:LEHIGHTONRossino 4-0-2-8, Durishin 2-0-2-4, Muffley 0-0-0-0, Fital 7-0-0-14, B. Blasiak 0-0-0-0, A. Blasiak 4-2-2-13, Faust 2-1-2-5, Buchinsky 0-0-0-0, Frey 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-3-8-44.Pleasant Vy. 15 8 19 14 - 56Lehighton 9 14 12 9 - 44Three pointers: PV - Benjamin 1, Russell 1, Sullivan 1, Francis 1, Covart 1; L - A. Blasiak 3.