Kyndal Currence (23) scores on a lay-up during their game with Musselman Saturday afternoon. (Photo courtesy of Lori Woods/My Buckhannon).

Game of the Week: Lady Bucs improve to 4-0 after 51-36 victory over Musselman

Editor’s note: Every week, the My Buckhannon sports team will select one highly-anticipated contest as our Game of the Week. This week, we picked B-U vs Musselman.

TENNERTON – The Buckhannon-Upshur Lady Bucs led from start to finish in their non-conference contest with the Musselman Lady Appleman in a 51-36 victory Saturday afternoon.

The outcome was never in doubt as the Lady Bucs started quickly with a 7-0 run and led by as many as 24 points in the second half.

Buckhannon-Upshur hasn’t trailed in a game at any point this season.

It wasn’t a perfect game for the Lady Bucs, though, as they committed a season-high 19 turnovers, but Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Rob Kittle was pleased with the effort of his team in the easy victory.

“I was really pleased with how we fought today,” stated Kittle. “We didn’t get down on ourselves and we stayed together as a team. We had each other’s back, and I feel that is something that maybe we were missing in those first three games. We just kept fighting even though we weren’t playing our best at times. I am very proud of the effort. They never gave up on each other or the game. It was a great team win for us.”

The Lady Bucs improved to 4-0 on the young season, something coach Kittle will take as his team still attempts to put together a complete game.

“It’s a great start to the season for us,” remarked Kittle. “We have handled our business against the teams that we should have so far. We know we are about to get tested as our schedule gets tougher. We just have to come out every night ready to play, and that is what we are trying to address with the team. Instead of playing one bad quarter here or a few bad minutes there, we need to put together four quarters together. If we can do that, we can be a very, very dangerous team.”

Kendal Currence had the hot hand early with a pair of baskets to start the game and Gabby Parke drained a three-pointer to give Buckhannon-Upshur a 7-0 lead.

They went into the second quarter with a 12-2 lead, holding Musselman to just one field goal in the first eight minutes.

A baseline jumper from Shelby McDaniels treated the Lady Bucs to a 24-6 lead with 1:14 remaining in the half, but Musselman finished the half on a 7-0 run to close the gap to 24-13 at the intermission. Musselman was just 1-for-12 from the free-throw line in the first half.

Up, 30-19, the Lady Bucs went on their own 7-0 run for a 37-19 advantage with 3:02 left in the third quarter.

Following a pair of free throws by McDaniels and a lay-up from Currence at the end of the third period, the Lady Bucs had built their lead up to 20, at 43-23.

B-U started the fourth quarter with a jumper from McDaniels and a lay-up by Currence for their biggest lead of the game, at 24 points, at 47-23.

A lay-up by Alyssa Abel kept the Lady Bucs ahead by 23, at 51-28, with 3:32 remaining in the game but it was the last bucket of the contest for B-U as Musselman ended the game with eight unanswered points.

McDaniels led the Lady Bucs with 19 points and five rebounds while Currence added 11 points and seven rebounds.

“We made some good cuts and passed the ball well today,” Currence said. “We went strong to the basket. We were a little rough in the first half, but I thought we cleaned up our play in the second half. It feels great to be 4-0 on the season. So far we have been good enough to play with any team that we have faced thus far. I can’t wait to see how the season unfolds for us.”

Musselman, who dropped to 1-5 on the season, was paced by Kaila Fitzpatrick who had 12 points.

The Lady Bucs will be idle over the Christmas holidays and will return to action in the two-day Cal (Pa.) Holiday Hoop Fest on Dec. 28-29. They will play West Greene (Pa.) on the Tuesday, Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. and then Pittsburgh Allderdice on Wednesday, Dec. 29 at 1 p.m.

The boxscore:

Musselman 2  9  10  13 – 36

Buckhannon-Upshur 12  12  19  8 – 51

Musselman 36

Kaila Fitzpatrick 4-14 1-4 12; Janiyah Lindsay 5-12 0-4 10; Kira Bennett 3-5 0-0 6; Patience Ritchie 2-5 0-3 4; Larkin Walker 1-3 0-0 2; Sarah Price 1-3 0-0 2; Serenity Ritchie 0-0 0-1 0; Chloe Womble 0-0 0-0 0; Makenzie Shanholtz 0-0 0-0; Ciara Puller 0-3 0-0 0; Elena Funkhouser 0-1 0-0 0; Nevaeh Thompson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-46 1-12 36.

Buckhannon-Upshur 51

Shelby McDaniels 7-16 5-6 19; Kendal Currence 5-11 1-2 11; Alyssa Abel 4-8 0-3 8; Gabby Parke 3-6 0-0 8; Kenna Maxwell 1-6 1-3 3; Kyndal Davis 0-3 2-2 2; Olivia Ellis 0-1 0-0 0; Brooklyn Smith 0-0 0-0 0; Rosie Shackleford 0-0 0-0 0; Regina Petrokovich 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-51 9-16 51.

Three-point field goals – Musselman: Fitzpatrick 3-11; Lindsay 0-3; Puller 0-1; Funkhouser 0-1. Totals 3-16; Buckhannon-Upshur: Parke 2-3; Maxwell 0-3; McDaniels 0-3. Totals 2-9.

Rebounds – Musselman: Lindsay 8; Bennett 7; deadball 4; P. Ritchie 3; S. Ritchie 3; Puller 3; team 3; Fitzpatrick 2; Price 1; Womble 1; Walker 1. Totals 34; Buckhannon-Upshur: Abel 8; Currence 7; Parke 7; team 7; McDaniels 5; Davis 4; Maxwell 2; deadball 2; Ellis 1. Totals 42.

Assists – Musselman: Lindsay 4; Bennett 2; S. Ritchie 1. Totals 7; Buckhannon-Upshur: Maxwell 4; McDaniels 4; Abel 1; Currence 1; Ellis 1. Totals 11.  

Steals – Musselman: Lindsay 4; S. Ritchie 3. Totals 7; Buckhannon-Upshur: Currence 6; McDaniels 4; Abel 1; Ellis 1. Totals 12.

Blocked shots – Musselman: P. Ritchie 1. Totals 1; Buckhannon-Upshur: Currence 2. Totals 2.

Turnovers – Musselman: 19; Buckhannon-Upshur: 19.

Personal fouls – Musselman: 13; Buckhannon-Upshur: 15.

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