The Pleasant Valley girls’ basketball team has taken the floor each night with a target on its back.

Sporting an unblemished record, the Bears know they’re going to get every opponent’s best shot.

And that’s just fine with them.

Pleasant Valley turned back a strong challenge from Northern Lehigh, pulling away in the second half to claim a 60-35 victory in the Lady Indian Holiday Tournament on Thursday.

The Bears will face Palmerton tonight in the championship game.

“They went from the hunter, to the hunted,” said Pleasant Valley head coach Nadia Gauronsky, whose team moved to 7-0 with the win. “For them, it’s really exciting and different, and it’s getting harder and harder as we go, because to be undefeated is hard to hold on to.”

A big third quarter helped the Bears seize control, as they closed out the period on a 10-0 run to take a 47-29 advantage into the fourth.

“In the locker room, in the first half, we knew we didn’t play as well as we could have,” said Pleasant Valley’s Cameron Caffrey. “So we did a couple things to change that, and it worked.”

“We had to work hard,” added Riley Wagner. “There was a lot of pressure coming into this game because we’re still undefeated.”

Caffrey scored nine of her team-high 13 points in the first quarter, while Wagner tallied 10.

Jada Saeger’s 18 points paced the Bulldogs (2-6), and helped spark a rally.

“She’s a fantastic player,” said Gauronsky. “The ball goes through her, so anytime she got the basketball, it became a situation where they could score, because she found open players if we collapsed on her. She’s a top-notch player, and anybody watching her that’s younger, should look to a kid like that, and say, ‘Man, I want to play like her.’”

The senior made an impact with her scoring and through facilitating the offense by getting teammates involved.

A basket from Madison Seier with 5:45 to play in the second quarter tied the game at 14-14.

But Wagner went 1-of-2 from the line less than a minute later to put the Bears back in front, sparking a 6-0 run and giving them a lead they would never relinquish.

“Our defense is getting better every game,” said Northern Lehigh head coach Ken Shankweiler. “We made some mental mistakes … but our defense gets better every game, and our offense is getting more and more solid every game.

“But we work hard.”

Saeger scored all 10 of the Bulldogs’ points in the third quarter, including two three-pointers, the last of which cut the deficit to 35-27 with 4:01 to play.

Pleasant Valley responded by outscoring Northern Lehigh 25-8 until the end of the game.

Madison Rosenberg and Ashley Schwenk scored eight points apiece for the Bears.

BACK-TO-BACK?

Pleasant Valley is looking to repeat last year’s run to the title. The Bears knocked off Lehighton in overtime to capture the crown a season ago.

PULLING AWAY

… Pleasant Valley’s average margin of victory this season is 26.1 points per game. The Bears closest contest was a 53-43 win over Moravian Academy on Dec. 15. They currently sit second, behind 6-1 Nazareth in the District 11 Class 6A power ratings.

NORTHERN LEHIGH

Guelcher 1-1-2-3, Lear 0-0-0-0, Hoffner 0-0-0-0, Hoffman 3-0-0-6, Saeger 6-4-6-18, Seier 1-0-0-2, Klimek 0-0-0-0, Niebell 2-1-2-6. TOTALS: 13-6-10-35.

PLEASANT VALLEY

R. Wagner 4-2-4-10, Caffrey 5-1-2-13, O’Neil 0-1-2-1, A. Wagner 1-1-2-3, B. Clark 2-1-2-5, K. Thourot 0-0-0-0, A. Thourot 0-0-0-0, A. Clark 3-1-2-7, Arndt 1-1-1-3, Morgan 1-0-0-2, Merklin 0-0-0-0, Rosenberg 3-2-2-8, Schwenk 4-0-0-8. TOTALS: 24-10-17-60.

No. Lehigh 10 9 10 6 - 35

Pleasant Vy. 13 12 22 13 - 60

Three-pointers: Northern Lehigh – Saeger 2, Niebell 1. Pleasant Valley – Caffrey 2.