The District XI Class 6A Girls Basketball Tournament opened last Tuesday night when the eighth-seeded Liberty Hurricanes beat the ninth-seeded Pleasant Valley Bears, 55-35, at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium.

“Even though we beat them by a lot in the regular season, we knew they were gonna come out hard because it is districts,” said Liberty senior forward Erin Eisenhart. “Everything was on the line for both teams so that definitely was key in today’s win.”

The Hurricanes came on strong early, scoring 12 straight points in the opening minutes on a combination of Emma Pukszyn, who had a team-high 14 points, Layla Orth, Tamia Bruce, and a three by Ruby Miller.

The Bears answered with six straight from senior Samantha Merklin, who had a game-high 16 points, and who didn’t play in the first contest between the two teams on Jan. 18 due to injury.

“With her being back, their primary scorer and rebounder, our main goal on defense was to stop her,” Eisenhart. “She did have a lot of points, but I feel like we did a good job containing her rebounds, so second-chance opportunities were decreased a lot, and Tamia was pulling down boards for us.”

Pleasant Valley had some missed opportunities on foul shots in the second quarter that could have kept Liberty’s lead at 10 points, but the ‘Canes took a 33-19 lead into the locker room.

“We saw this team earlier. They had a girl or two that didn’t play last game, so we just came out and wanted to put it on them right away, put it away, and then cruise the rest of the way,” said Liberty coach Jarrett Carnes. “Shooting is definitely a big part of our game. We’re small, but we do have a lot of shooters as well. What I’ll say is we live and die by the three.”

Pukszyn had the hot hand in the third quarter, tallying seven of Liberty’s 13 points.

Pleasant Valley rallied at the end of the quarter, scoring nine consecutive points on a combination of Merklin, Aryn Stivala, and Ella Muir.

“It happened three or four different times that I felt good about where we were headed, but they made the shots that kind of broke our backs every time,” Pleasant Valley coach Dan Muir said. “You come down here to the Lehigh Valley, and when you go down 20-some points, a lot of teams are just flopping all over, but we cut it down to 13, 14, and I was really proud of that.”

Bruce started another 12-point run for the Hurricanes with a three-pointer in the fourth quarter, and Eisenhart followed with the exact same shot.

“The other team left me open,” said Bruce. “I’m more of a post player than anything, so they weren’t worried about me shooting. I just took the shot because I’m not just a post player. I can also shoot, and a lot of teams underestimate me. It felt great because I kind of had a rough start in the third quarter, so that boosted my energy back up and I was able to keep my momentum going.”

The Hurricanes received late notification of their berth in the district tournament but were ready on Tuesday night.

“We had a whole week off. I collected jerseys,” said Coach Carnes. “Once we got the word, we were revamped and our mindset changed. It’s kind of like a new season for us.”

Bruce and Orth tallied 11 points apiece, Miller had eight points, Eisenhart scored seven points, and Abby Thompson had five points.

“They brought heat, but we brought more,” Bruce said.

Liberty advanced to the district quarterfinal but lost to Easton, 47-28, on Friday night.