WHITEHALL — In a game that saw some quick lead changes early, Pleasant Valley was taken out of the District 11 tournament with a 50-36 loss to Parkland.

The defeat came in the quarterfinals of the District 11 Class 6A tournament, ending Pleasant Valley’s season with a 14-9 record.

The two teams battled back and forth in the first half, with the lead changing hands four times in the final 1:30 of the first quarter, which ended with Parkland up 13-12. In the second quarter, Parkland (15-9) stretched its lead to seven when Ashlyn Fritzinger hit a three-pointer with 4:07 left, but it wasn’t enough to knock out Pleasant Valley. The Bears went on a 6-0 run to cut it to 21-20 at halftime.

“I was really proud of our girls, because that was big to battle back from that point and not just let them run away,” said Bears head coach Nadia Gauronsky. “Our girls really fought hard all night, but they were able to get away from us in the second half.”

Parkland opened the second half on a 10-0 run that made it 31-20 with 2:11 left in the third quarter.

Again though, Pleasant Valley mounted a run of its own. After senior Alexa Clark hit a jumper to cut the deficit to seven, the Bears forced a turnover and Breanna Clark drove the lane to cut Parkland’s lead to five.

Things got away from Pleasant Valley in the final eight minutes of the game as the Parkland defense stood strong and its offense went to work, especially from the foul line.

Down by 12 with time growing scarce, the Bears employed a fouling strategy, but Parkland hit seven-of-eight foul shots down the stretch. Parkland also found ways to beat Pleasant Valley’s full-court press by spreading the floor and using long passes that wound up leaving some open shots.

The Trojans’ size advantage also came into play in that the Bears focused on containing senior Kassidy Stout and sophomore Lindsay Berger, which left Claire Courter open from beyond the arc to hit three-pointers. Courter nailed four three-pointers and scored a game-high 18 points for Parkland, while Stout still managed to pull down 14 rebounds and Berger hauled in six.

“We knew that we had to try to handle their size, and a consequence of that was leaving Courter open,” admitted Gauronsky.

“She got hot and it hurt us, but you have to give it to them because they were able to work the ball to her, and she didn’t let up.”

Breanna Clark scored 15 in her final high school game for Pleasant Valley. Cameron Caffrey, a junior, hit for 12 points, including nailing two three-pointers. In addition to the two Clarks, Pleasant Valley seniors Ashley Schwenck and Madison Rosenberg also played in their final game as seniors.

“I can’t say enough about them,” said Gauronsky of her four senior players. “Really, all of the girls played really well this season, and they all worked hard. That starts with the seniors, who put in a lot of work and set the tone for the team. It will take me a little while to kind of work through how our season played out really, but I can say that I’m happy with the effort and the work.”

TO THE FUTURE ... Gauronsky’s roster features six juniors who will give the team strong leadership next season. With the loss of four seniors, Pleasant Valley will need to fill some holes, but seems to have the pieces in place to do just that.

DÉJÀ VU ... Both Parkland and Pleasant Valley had similar routes to districts. By virtue of their regular season win over the Bears, Parkland came in seeded fourth, one spot ahead of Pleasant Valley. Both teams also lost in the first round of the EPC playoffs, with Pleasant Valley falling to top-seed Bethlehem Catholic and Parkland falling to fourth-seeded Freedom. In another similarity, Parkland’s 10-0 run to open the second half mirrored its 10-0 run to open the first meeting between the two teams.

PLEASANT VALLEY

Wagner 0-0-0-0, Caffrey 5-0-0-12, O’Neil 0-0-2-0, Wagner 1-1-3-3, B. Clark 7-0-1-15, A. Clark 1-0-0-2, Rosenberg 1-0-0-2, Schwenck 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 16-1-6-36

PARKLAND

Fritzinger 2-0-0-5, Rothwell 2-2-2-7, Kennedy 1-1-2-3, Courter 5-4-4-18, Stout 4-0-0-8, Fogt 0-0-0-0, Wilkinson 0-0-0-0, Berger 4-1-2-9. TOTALS: 18-8-10-50

Pleasant Valley 12 8 8 8 - 36

Parkland 13 8 14 15 - 50

Three-pointers: Pleasant Vy. - Caffrey 2, B. Clark 1; Parkland - Courter 4, Rothwell 1, Fritzinger 1.