NORTHAMPTON Pleasant Valley played outstanding defense, rebounded well, and knocked down a handful of perimeter shots during Friday's District 11 quarterfinal playoff game.

Their free-throw shooting? That was another story.In a game that the Bears never trailed, they still had to sweat it out down the stretch before pulling out a 46-41 victory over Mountain Valley Conference rival Pocono Mountain East."I can finally breathe a little sigh of relief," said PV head coach Nadia Gauronsky shortly after the contest. "We have to make free throws at the end. I thought we did a very nice job defensively, but I'd like it if we would have made some free throws at the end."With Keri Dekmar knocking down five three-pointers and PV's pressure forcing turnovers, the fourth-seeded Bears (14-7) were able to build an 11-point advantage midway through the fourth quarter.But after gaining what was its biggest lead, Pleasant Valley went just 4-of-13 at the charity stripe the rest of the way. Included in that were three straight misses on the front end of one-and-ones. For the game, the Bears went just 10-of-25 from the foul line."We just have to make those shots," said Gauronsky, whose team will now play top-seeded Pocono Mountain West in Tuesday's semifinals. "There's not much more I can say about that. Maybe it was a little bit of fatigue or maybe it was just the moment."But our defense kept up and stayed with the gameplan ... In the last game I don't think we played with the passion that we did this time. I think we played with a lot more passion and a lot more desire."With the Bears struggling at the line, the Cardinals (13-9) had some desire in the closing minutes. An 8-1 run, with four of the points coming from Morgan Mader, trimmed a comfortable PV lead down to 44-41 with 43 seconds left to play.Pocono, however, missed a pair of shots from the field and two more from the foul line to secure the win for Pleasant Valley."It was definitely hard (watching from the bench)," said Dekmar, who fouled out with under two minutes left in the game. "I had confidence in my team and I knew we'd come out with the win. Foul shots there would have sealed the deal a little bit more, though."We knew coming in it would be a big game. We had a lot of intensity coming into it because we had just lost to them twice. We kind of wanted a little bit of revenge but we also just wanted to move forward. Most of us are seniors so we didn't want our season to end. Definitely coming in with that attitude helped me with my shooting."Dekmar, who finished with a game-high 17 points, hit three treys in the first half to help the Bears take a 22-17 lead to the locker room. She hit her other two in the third quarter to help build the magin to nine."Dekmar had a really nice night," said Pocono mentor Rose Haller. "We wanted our girls to deny her after she started hitting but for some reason we didn't comprehend that. All in all, though, the kids gave it their best."The Bears' zone defense was also at its best as they forced 22 turnovers over the first three quarters."We were trying to pressure their guards as much as we can," said Dekmar. "We also wanted to help on their big (Alpreshia Parker) inside because we know she's a big inside threat."Parker did manage 10 points but fouled out in the fourth quarter with over four minutes to play."The girls were upset about not making it to the MVC (finals) so they kind of took ownership of this game and said they really wanted it," said Gauronsky.Besides Dekmar, Mackenzie Dorney tallied 11 points and was a force inside with with 12 rebounds.PM EASTHaller 0-3-3-3, Caldwell 2-1-2-5, Lavelle 0-0-0-0, Mader 1-4-4-6, Ruggiero 3-0-0-7, Parker 4-2-2-10, Reisenwitz 4-2-7-10. TOTALS: 14-12-18-41.PLEASANT VY.Meckes 2-2-7-7, Dekmar 6-0-0-17, Krcic 0-2-2-2, Miller 1-1-2-3, Russel 1-1-4-3, Dorney 4-3-5-11, Craig 1-1-3-3, Fields 0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 15-10-25-46.PM East 6 11 14 10 - 41Pleasant Vy. 10 12 13 11 - 46Three-pointers: PM East - Ruggiero 1; Pleasant Vy. - Dekmar 5, Meckes 1.