BETHLEHEM - The District 11 Class 6A Girls Basketball Tournament opened on Tuesday night with Liberty defeating Pleasant Valley, 55-35, in a first-round game at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium.

“The way we play, we have to keep them in the low 40s or high 30s because we don’t have enough points, but we play tough defense, and so give credit to Liberty,” said Pleasant Valley coach Dan Muir. “They shot the ball great tonight, and when that happens, we’re in tough shape.”

As they proved, the No. 8 seeded Hurricanes have no shortage of outside shooters, as Liberty drained seven three-pointers that were spread among five players, including the team’s top scorer, Emma Pukszyn, who finished with 15 points.

“Shooting is definitely a big part of our game. We’re small, but we do have a lot of shooters,” said Liberty coach Jarrett Carnes. “What I’ll say is we live and die by the three.

“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.”

The Hurricanes scored the first 12 points of the game, but the Bears answered with six straight from senior Samantha Merklin, who had a game-high 16 points. Merklin didn’t play in the first contest between the two teams - a 62-15 victory for Liberty back on Jan. 18 - due to injury.

“With her being back, their primary scorer and rebounder, our main goal on defense was to stop her,” said Liberty forward Erin Eisenhart. “She did have a lot of points, but I feel like we did a good job containing her rebounds.”

Pleasant Valley, the No. 9 seed, had some missed opportunities on foul shots in the second quarter that could have kept Liberty within single digits, but it failed to take advantage of that and when Aliyah Williams’ hit a late three-pointer, Liberty found itself with a 33-19 halftime edge.

The Hurricanes stretched that lead at the outset of the second half, but the Bears rallied at the end of the third quarter, scoring nine consecutive points on a combination of baskets 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,” coach Muir said about the multiple runs the Bears made during the game. “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.”

Liberty opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back threes by Tamia Bruce and Eisenhart that finally sealed Pleasant Valley’s fate.

“Every one of our coaches are so proud of these girls. It was a great accomplishment for us to make districts,” said Muir. “I know a lot of schools are dealing with things right now, but what we had to deal with this year with constant injury, a girl quitting, another girl injured, it was never-ending, every day, and if you lived it, it was insane.

“But the girls stuck together. I know tonight, it didn’t work out our way. But again, it was quite an accomplishment to get here.”

Liberty advances to play Easton in a district quarterfinal on Friday night at Northampton.

THEY’RE BAAACK ... Both Merklin and senior Drew Morgan were in the lineup for Pleasant Valley last night after missing several recent games. Merklin actually returned from a two-plus week absence for the Bears’ non-league game against Northern Lehigh last week. That marked Morgan’s first game back after also missing severalweeks.

SURPRISE! ... The Hurricanes were shocked to find out they made the district tournament, qualifying even though they didn’t have a .500 record because they had the eighth-best power rating points in Class 6A. “We had a whole week off. I collected jerseys,” Carnes said. “Once we got the word, our mindset changed.”

HOUSE MONEY ... Muir’s pregame speech to his team was emotional. “It was quite an accomplishment to get here. No one’s expecting you to win. You’re a good team. You got this far. These are the best situations. After the game, no matter what happens, I’m going to love you guys like my daughter. That’s not going to change.”

PLEASANT VALLEY

Stivala 3-0-0-7, Williams 1-0-0-3, Greene 0-0-0-0, Muir 4-0-0-9, Honadel 0-0-0-0, Morgan 0-0-0-0, Merklin 6-4-9-16, Finley 0-0-0-0, Boyne 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-4-9-35.

LIBERTY

Orth 2-7-7-11, Bruce 5-0-0-10, Miller 3-1-2-8, A. Thompson 2-0-0-5, J. Thompson 0-0-2-0, Puksyn 5-2-4-14, Medaska 0-0-0-0, Eisenhart 2-2-2-7, Wilkens 0-0-0-0, Nickens 0-0-0-0, Walker 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-12-17-55.

Pleasant Valley 10 9 14 2 - 35

Liberty 18 15 17 5 - 55

Three-pointers: Pleasant Valley - Stivala 1, Williams 1, Muir 1; Liberty - Puksyn 2, Miller 1, A. Thompson 1, Eisenhart 1.