TENNERTON – Doing the little things right.

It’s a mantra that Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Rob Kittle has been preaching to his eighth-ranked Lady Bucs most of the season.

Buckhannon-Upshur has been able to win this year on talent alone despite sometimes not doing all those ‘little things’ right throughout the season, and tonight it caught up to the Lady Bucs in a 71-66 home setback to the Parkersburg South Patriots.

Missing some easy looks, outrebounded again and outhustled at times, the Lady Bucs saw their seven-game winning streak end to Parkersburg South as they fell to 14-4 on the year.

“We missed way too many easy shots, probably anywhere from 11 or 12,” stated Kittle. “In a five-point game, that is huge. We just didn’t do the things we talked about in practice. It’s just frustrating from that aspect. I give Parkersburg South credit, they shot the ball well and they were ready for whatever we threw at them. We just can’t play like we did tonight and expect to beat quality teams.

“But it’s beyond frustrating to still make those little detail mistakes that we have talked about as the season has gone on. We miss a lay-up, then throw a pass a foot too far in front of someone, then pass up a good look. Most of it tonight was self-inflicted. It’s just little things that we have talked about. Fortunately, it’s things we can easily correct, but it’s frustrating at this point making those mistakes against a good team like Parkersburg South.”

The game was never able to get into a flow with 43 fouls being called, 25 against the Lady Bucs and 18 whistled against the Patriots.

The loss ruined a double-double by freshman Alyssa Abel, who scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Lady Bucs. The game started out well enough for the Lady Bucs as Abel put in six of the first eight points for B-U as they raced out to an early 8-2 lead with 2:36 gone off the first-quarter clock.

A lay-up by Kendal Currence kept the Lady Bucs up by three, at 10-7.

Parkersburg South closed the opening quarter on a 10-4 run for a 17-14 advantage. B-U was never able to regain the lead.

The Patriots scored the first seven points of the second quarter for a 24-14 lead before Shelby McDaniels drained a three-pointer and then scored on a lay-up bringing B-U to within five, at 24-19, with 4:14 left in the stanza. Parkersburg South rebuilt their lead to 10 at the break, at 37-27.

Currence and Gabby Parke put in consecutive baskets to start the third quarter shrinking their deficit down to six, at 37-31. Parke uncorked a trey to make it a 48-40 contest leaving the Lady Bucs down by eight, but Parkersburg South scored five of the final six points of the stanza for a 53-41 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

Buckhannon-Upshur trailed by as many as 16 in the fourth quarter but kept battling and trimmed the margin down to six after a Currence three-pointer, at 66-60, with 57 seconds left.

Parkersburg South built the lead back to eight points, at 71-63, before Maxwell wrapped up the scoring with a three-pointer with two seconds remaining.

“We can’t give up 71 points against a quality team and expect to win,” remarked Kittle. “We just dug ourselves way too big of a hole tonight to climb out of.”

Kittle did say he was proud of how his team kept fighting to stay in the game.

“I told them I was proud of how they battled, but we can’t make mistakes and put ourselves down by 16 against a quality opponent like Parkersburg South,” said Kittle.

Parkersburg South was led by Skylar Bosley, who scored a game-high 27 points. The Patriots evened their record at 8-8 on the year and now boast a three-game winning streak.

“I know their record isn’t where they want it to be, but Parkersburg South has played a tremendous schedule,” commented Kittle. “They have been tested and play in these types of games every day.”

McDaniels paced B-U with 20 points while Abel and Currence both had 14.

“This one is going to sting a little bit, but they need to come back ready on Monday,” concluded Kittle.

The Lady Bucs will visit East Fairmont on Monday for a 7:30 p.m. tip then will return home Tuesday hosting Elkins at 7:30 p.m.