Motivation? Pleasant Valley had plenty.

A rivalry game with postseason implications stoked the flame for the PBears.

Throwing Senior Night on top of it lit the fuse.

Pleasant Valley earned a pivotal 65-40 win over Stroudsburg Friday night to stay alive in the race for the Mountain Division title and a berth in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference tournament.

The victory kept the Bears (13-6) in contention after a 49-44 loss to Pocono Mountain West earlier in the week.

“It was really important to the girls after our loss earlier in the week to (Pocono Mountain) West,” said Pleasant Valley head coach Nadia Gauronsky. “And I think we’ve kind of been in this, I don’t want to say slump, we’ve been in a funk of some sort, and we’re trying to get out of it.

“And I think tonight was a statement win for the kids, because they shot the ball, and they moved the ball well on offense, and those things were important for us to get back on track.”

It was seniors Alexa and Brianna Clark the sparked a second half surge to help the Bears put the game away.

A 19-4 run to open the third quarter turned a four-point halftime lead into a 44-25 advantage with 4:15 to play in the third quarter.

Senior Alexa Clark had 10 points in the third quarter and 15 in the second half en route to a 20-point performance.

Brianna Clark had seven of her nine points in the third quarter.

“We just knew that we had to come out strong, and that we weren’t going to lose on our senior night,” said Alexa Clark. “We just knew we had to play in the flow of the game, take the shots in the flow and we would be good.”

The surge came after the Mounties (12-8) closed to within 25-21 at the intermission.

“I felt pretty good about things at halftime,” said Mounties head coach Matthew Field. “We made a little bit of a run in the second quarter. I felt like our pressure was going to be something we were going to be able to do.

“And we missed some defensive rotations in the third quarter, and they were able to get the ball to some players, and the Clark twins hit some big shots for them.”

Pleasant Valley shot 9-of-14 from the floor in the third period and led 49-31 heading to the fourth quarter.

“I think it was nice to see that they took charge of their senior night, and their game,” said Gauronsky. “Both Alexa and Brianna did a very nice job in saying, we don’t want to lose this game. We want to push forward. And they shot the ball incredibly well in that third quarter.

“We talked about, with Madison Rosenberg being in the middle of the zone, that they would fixate on that, and that would open up our shooters, and that’s exactly what we did.”

Rosenberg and Cameron Caffrey had nine points apiece for the Bears.

Emily Strunk had 18 points for the Mounties, while Mahogany Worsley-Wooten added 12.

SWEEP … Pleasant Valley topped Stroudsburg 67-40 in their first meeting on Dec. 21.

TWO AND IN … Pleasant Valley finishes the regular season with must-win EPC Mountain Division games against ES South (Feb. 4) and PM West (Feb. 6).

TALE OF TWO HALVES … A 9-0 start to the season had the Bears among the top teams in the District 11 Class 6A. But a 4-6 mark since has brought them back to the pack.

STROUDSBURG

Merklin 0-0-0-0, Strunk 7-4-6-18, Francis 0-1-2-1, Barro 0-1-2-1, K. Worsley-Wooten 1-0-1-2, Trimmingham 0-0-0-0, Holbert 1-1-2-3, Hock 1-1-2-3, M. Worsley-Wooten 3-6-9-12, Tretheway 0-0-0-0, Joseph 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 13-14-24-40.

PLESANT VALLEY

R. Wagner 1-1-1-3, Caffrey 4-0-1-9, O’Neil 2-2-2-6, A. Wagner 1-1-2-3, B. Clark 4-0-0-9, K. Thourot 0-0-0-0, A. Thourot 0-0-0-0, A. Clark 7-2-2-20, Arndt 0-0-0-0, Morgan 0-0-0-0, Merklin 0-0-0-0, Rosenberg 4-1-2-9, Mattson 0-0-0-0, Schwenk 3-0-0-6. TOTALS: 26-7-10-65.

Stroudsburg 10 11 10 9 - 40

Pleasant Vy. 14 11 24 16 - 65

Three-pointers: Stroudsburg – None. Pleasant Valley – A. Clark 4, Caffrey 1, B. Clark 1.