KINGWOOD – In a very close game, the Buckhannon-Upshur Lady Bucs had no answers for Preston’s Kendra Nazelrod in a 42-39 road loss in Big 10 Conference action Thursday night.
Nazelrod scored 58 percent of Preston’s offense with a game-high 24 points and collected a double-double as she pulled down 10 rebounds.
Buckhannon-Upshur was down early 9-3 five minutes in, but Harley Dean went on a one women crusade for the Lady Bucs scoring the quarter’s final nine points giving B-U a 12-9 lead.
Dean scored the first four points of the second quarter (13 points in a row) to treat the Lady Bucs to their biggest lead of the game, 16-9, with 6:11 left in the half.
The Lady Bucs went into a scoring drought the rest of half without a point as Preston scored 10 unanswered for a 19-16 lead at the break.
Down 23-18, Gabby Parke uncorked a trey and Hodge’Nay Henderson and Alyssa Abel put in baskets underneath for a 7-0 run giving the Lady Bucs a 25-23 advantage with 3:38 remaining in the quarter. It was the last lead B-U would own as Preston closed the quarter on an 8-2 run taking a 31-27 lead into the final eight minutes.
The Lady Bucs were trailing 35-29 but Davis scored from the paint and Brooklyn Smith drained a three-pointer to bring B-U to within one, at 35-34, with 4:47 remaining in the contest.
Preston scored five straight points for a 40-34 but the Lady Bucs countered with their own 5-0 run behind a trey from Casadie Lahman and a lay-up from Henderson making it a 40-39 contest.
Nazelrod made a jumper for Preston with 1:31 to go putting the Lady Bucs down 42-39, which would be the final scoring of the game.
Preston kept the Lady Bucs in the contest in the final 35 seconds going 0-for-4 at the free throw line.
B-U had a chance to deadlock the game with possession of the ball at mid-court but the Preston defense forced a tie up with the possession arrow favoring the Knights with 4.6 seconds remaining. Preston inbounded the ball and ran the clock out before the Lady Bucs could foul them.
Dean was the only Lady Buc to reach double digits as she finished the game with 13 points.
Abel pulled down a team-best seven rebounds for B-U.
The loss dropped the Lady Bucs to 1-2 overall and 0-2 in the Big 10 Conference.
They will be back in action hosting Musselman Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
The boxscore:
Buckhannon-Upshur 12 4 11 12 – 39
Preston 9 10 12 11 – 42
Buckhannon-Upshur 39
Harley Dean 5-9 3-3 13; Hodge’Nay Henderson 3-5 0-0 6; Kyndal Davis 3-4 0-0 6; Gabby Parke 2-9 0-0 5; Casadie Lahman 1-3 0-0 3; Brooklyn Smith 1-1 0-0 3; Alyssa Abel 1-6 1-2 3; Rosie Shackleford 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-37 4-5 39.
Preston 42
Kendra Nazelrod 11-18 2-2 24; Cameryn Sypolt 3-7 0-0 6; Bella Miller 2-8 0-0 5; Ava Bishop 1-7 1-6 3; Ella White 1-8 0-0 2; Alauna Wilson 1-1 0-0 2; Hallie Simmons 0-0 0-0 0; Camdyn Metheny 0-0 0-0 0; Kaylee Wimer 0-0 0-0 0; Hannah Zuchowski 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 19-51 3-8 42.
Three-point field goals – Buckhannon-Upshur: Parke 1-7; Lahman 1-3; Smith 1-1; Henderson 0-1 Totals 3-12; Preston: Miller 1-5; Nazelrod 0-1; White 0-1; Bishop 0-1. Totals 1-10.
Rebounds – Buckhannon-Upshur: Abel 7; Dean 5; Henderson 4; Lahman 4; Davis 3; team 2; Smith 1; deadball 1. Totals 27; Preston: Nazelrod 10; White 8; Bishop 5; deadball 4. Miller 2; team 2; Sypolt 1. Totals 32.
Assists – Buckhannon-Upshur: Lahman 7; Smith 2; Abel 1; Shackleford 1. Totals 11; Preston: White 6; Bishop 1; Miller 1; Nazelrod 1; Wimer 1; Wilson 1. Totals 11.
Steals – Buckhannon-Upshur: Henderson 3; Parke 3; Lahman 2; Dean 1. Totals 9; Preston: White 8; Bishop 4; Miller 2; Sypolt 1; Wimer 1; Wilson 1. Totals 17.
Blocked shots – Buckhannon-Upshur: Abel 3; Davis 2; Dean 1.; Lahman 1. Totals 7; Preston: Nazelrod 4. Totals 4.
Turnovers – Buckhannon-Upshur: 21; Preston: 12.
Personal fouls – Buckhannon-Upshur: 12; Preston: 7.
