The Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School Lady Buccaneer basketball team finished second in the Mid-Mountain Athletic Conference in the regular season and faced seventh-ranked Washington-Irving Tuesday night in the conference tournament opener at Buckhannon-Upshur High School.

Led by Coach Chad Wilfong and assistant coaches Chris Cartwright and Rena Zirkle, the Lady Bucs started strong. Adelynn Anderson scored 6 points, while Emma Pingley sank an early 3-pointer to finish the first quarter 10-2.

Pingley continued her strong showing in the second quarter, hitting a perfect 4-for-4 at the free throw line and adding another 3-point bucket. By halftime, the Lady Bucs led the Hilltoppers 18-4.

In the third quarter, Washington-Irving’s Cia Pettrey, Morgan Pitzer and Ariel Lamp combined for 10 points, but Buckhannon-Upshur maintained its advantage with Bristol Zirkle contributing 6 points and two free throws and Zoey Burr adding another couple of points.

Zirkle kept the momentum going in the fourth quarter with another 4 points, finishing with a total of 13, while Pingley and Anderson scored 10 and 8 points, respectively.

Washington-Irving ended their season with a 33-17 loss to the Lady Bucs, who will head to Taylor County on Thursday to face No. 6 Lincoln in the semi-finals after their upset win over third-ranked Elkins in Tuesday’s conference opener. The conference championship game takes place at Lincoln High School on Saturday night with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.