A quick start doesn't always guarantee a win.

But it certainly doesn't hurt.Pleasant Valley made the most of an early lead in its Eastern Pennsylvania Conference game against Pocono Mountain West Friday night en route to a 56-45 win.The Lady Bears (4-7, 2-5) held a commanding 17-3 advantage after the first quarter, a deficit that was too much for the Lady Panthers to overcome."It's always a rivalry game with West and they're a pretty good team," said Pleasant Valley head coach Nadia Gauronsky. "But they're a little bit younger and we're a little bit more seasoned, and I think that helped us to come out and be a little more aggressive."The strategy worked, as Pocono Mountain West (1-10, 0-7) committed five team fouls in the first frame and struggled to find its footing early."They have veterans and we have freshman," Pocono Mountain West head coach Stacy Perryman said of her team, which featured two freshman and a sophomore in the starting lineup. "It takes us a little bit to trust ourselves and really get going in the game."We dug ourselves an early hole and had to expend a lot of energy trying to get out of it."Pleasant Valley's lead grew to as much as 25-7 early in the second quarter before the Panthers started to mount a comeback.West, which was led by Juanita Wiggins' 15 points, cut it to single digits for the first time at 46-39 with 6:45 remaining in the fourth quarter and appeared to have momentum."If we would spread the court we had the opportunity to go by them or kick it out and get a good shot," Perryman said of her team's strategy. "Once we started doing that, the basket seemed a little bit bigger and they got a little bit more comfortable."But the Lady Bears' veteran leadership ensured that would be as close as the Panthers would get, as PV answered with a critical 10-2 run over the next four minutes that made it 56-41.Senior Renee Milos was a key part of the Bears attack underneath and led the team with 15 points."She always does a really nice job for us," Gauronsky said of Milos. "And we were able to handle their pressure and get the ball inside to her."In addition to Milos, Masani Francis (13 points) and Mikaela Miller (10 points) also scored in double figures.The victory is the second in a row for Pleasant Valley, which defeated Allen 61-53 earlier this week."I think they're improving," Gauronsky said. "They had some tough contests early on this season but they didn't get blown out. They were in every game."If they play with the confidence they have now and learn from the mistakes they made earlier in the year they'll be OK."UNDERCARD … Pocono Mountain West won the JV game by a score of 46-38.CONSITENT … Pleasant Valley scored 13 points in each of the second, third and fourth quarters.STEP RIGHT UP … Pleasant Valley took 10 of its 22 free throws in the first quarter.POCONO MTN. WESTPilgrim 1-0-0-2, Horan 0-2-2-2, Jones 0-0-0-0, McGee 3-0-0-6, Huggins 1-0-2-2, Wiggins 6-0-1-15, Baptiste 4-0-0-9, Hoffman 1-0-0-3, Field 3-0-1-6, Hall 0-0-2-0, Dangerfield 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-3-5-45.PLEASANT VALLEYBorger 4-0-0-9, Miller 4-2-4-10, Jones 0-0-0-0, Iovino 0-0-0-0, Francis 5-2-3-13, Borden 1-3-7-5, Russell 1-2-2-4, Salmon 0-0-0-0, Milos 5-5-6-15, Rosenberg 0-0-0-0, Ramirez 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 20-14-22-56.Pocono Mtn. West 3 15 14 13 - 45Pleasant Valley 17 13 13 13 - 56Three-pointers: PM West - Wiggins 2, Baptiste 1, Hoffman 1. Pleasant Valley - Borger 1, Francis 1.