STROUDSBURG - With just over four minutes left in the first half, Pocono Mountain West head coach Stacy Perryman saw her Lady Panthers trailing Mountain Valley Conference foe Pleasant Valley by eight points and didn't like the vibes she saw coming from the five players on the court.

Perryman called a timeout, read them the riot act and needless to say, put some fire in their eyes.The speech worked as the Panthers went on a 15-4 run to close out the first half and then answered again in the third quarter to pull away for a 59-47 victory in the District 11 Class 4A semifinal at Stroudsburg High School."This team tries to go out and do everything well," said Perryman. "I just told them to calm down. There's never a perfect game. You're going to have turnovers and you're going to miss shots. I told them if they would just do the things that got us here, they would be fine."The win put the Panthers (19-7) in Friday night's championship game against Parkland, the No. seed, back at Stroudsburg High. The Bears (14-9), meanwhile will take on Northampton in the 6 p.m. consolation game for the right to continue play next week in the PIAA playoffs.The Bears came out strong and trailed only once in the first quarter and held a 13-12 lead after the first eight minutes. One of the keys was that they held a 9-8 edge on the boards and kept MVC MVP and leading scorer Jackie Benitez without a point.She's the type of player that you can't keep silent for long and she eventually got going to finish with a game-high 22 points.With the Bears leading 24-16, the Panthers went on their run with Benitez scoring 10 of the 15 points to put her team ahead by three at the half, 31-28. The Bears never led after that.A bucket from inside the lane by Sicole Walters and a driving layup and free throw by Benitez to start the second half pushed the Panthers lead to 36-28. After the Bears pulled back within two, the Panthers outscored them 14-3 the rest of the quarter and took a 50-37 lead into the final eight minutes.Pleasant Valley was able to cut it to seven, but couldn't get any closer. A three-pointer by Benitez from the corner with 2:54 left gave them a double-digit lead and put the game away."They wear you down, they're athletic," said Pleasant Valley head coach Nadia Gauronsky. "You get tired and make silly errors and it costs you. And that's what usually happens when you play West and it happened again tonight."Hopefully we can put this in the past, regroup and win on Friday to make it into the state tournament."The Panthers were dead on from the foul line, making 15-of-19 on the night. Despite the early edge, the Bears were out rebounded by a 41-34 margin."Our defense has been our bread and butter all year," added Perryman. "Getting in the passing lane, getting tips. When we do that, it usually turns out well for us.Backing up Benitez was Rana James with 16 points. Pleasant Valley was led by Mackenzie Dorney with 13 points and eight rebounds and Jordan Meckes with 13 points.PLEASANT VY.Meckes 4-4-7-13, Dekmar 3-0-0-8, Miller 0-0-0-0, Dorney 6-1-1-13, Craig 2-2-4-7, Fields 0-0-0-0, Russell 3-0-2-6, Krcic 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 18-7-14-47.PM WESTWalters 3-0-1-6, Benitez 6-8-10-22, Jones 0-5-5-5, James 7-2-3-16, Flaherty 2-0-0-4, Murray 2-0-0-4, Boutieller 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 20-15-19-59.Pleas. Vy. 13 15 9 10 - 47PM West 12 19 19 9 - 59Three-pointers: PV - Dekmar 2, Meckes 1, Craig 1; PMW - Benitez 2