WHITEHALL - Pleasant Valley didn't play poorly in its District 11 Class AAAA first round playoff game Tuesday night.

Whitehall just played better.The sixth-seeded Zephyrs hit seven three-pointers in the first half and finished the night perfect at the foul line to help gain a 53-40 victory and advance to the quarterfinals."Credit to them, they shot the lights out tonight," said Bears' head coach Nadia Gauronsky. "You don't expect a team to shoot that well from three-point range."We thought maybe we could sneak up on them and surprise them. And I think the kids did the best they could. They drove to the basket hard, they got good looks, they shot the ball well and didn't have too many turnovers. They did everything that they were supposed to do. (Whitehall) just made more shots than we did."Less than 20 seconds into the contest, Taylor Rummel drained a deep trey to open the scoring. The Zephyrs followed with four more longballs - two each from Taylor George and Kylee Cunningham - in the opening quarter to build a 21-13 advantage. Two more three-pointers in the second frame helped the host team take a 16-point lead at the intermission."You explain it to me," said Whitehall mentor Dwight Repsher when asked about his team's 7-of-11 effort from behind the arc in the first half. "I don't think we played our best tonight, except we made shots ... We executed to get those shots and we knocked them down. It's obviously easier when you score points."Joyce Sullivan scored all seven of her points in the opening quarter to keep the 11th-seeded Bears (11-12) close. But unfortunately, Gauronsky's club couldn't keep up the scoring pace.It also didn't help that PV's big girl in the post, Renee Milos, was in foul trouble early.Shortly after Milos, who finished with a team-high 12 points, hit an inside bucket to make it 16-13, she picked up her second foul and was forced to the bench."That definitely helped," said Repsher. "Part of the way we attacked them was to try and take it to them a little bit inside.""We had some height advantage and when that happened it kind of took the wind out of our sail," said Gauronsky. "She was doing a nice job of playing the middle."The Bears got to the middle often in the second half, hoping to cut into the deficit. Shots wouldn't fall, though, both from the floor and from the foul line."I told the girls if we ... drive to the basket and get some free throws and make those free throws we're still going to be in the game. We didn't make the free throws, though. We drove and we got fouled but we couldn't hit free throws."Pleasant Valley went just 1-of-9 at the foul line after the break and finished the night 3-of-13. Whitehall, meanwhile, hit all six of their free throws in the second half and ended the night 12-of-12.Besides Milos, Masani Francis contributed 11 points. The Bears actually outscored their opponent in the second half, but could never get the margin under 11 points.George ended the contest with a game-high 19 points while Ivanna Jones poured in 14."They fought hard, and fought every possession," said Gauronsky about her team. "We just missed some shots. I'm proud of the girls and they just worked hard all season long, especially our seniors."CONTROLLING THE BOARDS ... Jones and Jill Kreglow helped Whitehall gain the rebounding advantage. Jones pulled down nine boards while Kreglow hauled in eight.ENDING THE HALF ... Whitehall closed the first half on a 10-2 run to double its eight-point lead to 16. The Zephyrs made both of their second-quarter treys during that stretch.CALLING IT A CAREER ... The contest was the final game for senior starters Milos, Kiki Russell and Mackenzie Borger.PLEASANT VALLEYBorger 1-2-4-4, Sullivan 2-1-2-7, Jones 0-0-0-0, Iovino 0-0-0-0, Francis 4-0-4-11, Borden 0-0-0-0, Russell 1-0-2-2, Salmon 1-0-0-2, Milos 6-0-1-12, Rosenberg 0-0-0-0, Ramirez 0-0-0-0, Schwenck 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 16-3-13-40.WHITEHALLCunningham 2-0-0-6, Rex 0-0-0-0, Jones 3-8-8-14, O. George 0-0-0-0, T. George 7-2-2-19, Buskirk 0-2-2-2, Kreglow 2-0-0-4, Dietz 0-0-0-0, Rummel 2-0-0-6, Hines 1-0-0-2, Crooks 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-12-12-53.Pleas. Vy. 13 6 12 9 - 40Whitehall 21 14 10 8 - 53Three-pointers: PV - Francis 3, Sullivan 2; Whitehall - T. George 3, Cunningham 2, Rummel 2.