FAIRMONT – Buckhannon-Upshur senior guard Shelby McDaniels recorded a triple-double to help lead her Lady Bucs to a dominating 64-36 victory on the road against the East Fairmont Bees.

McDaniels poured in a game-high 22 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out 12 assists in the win.

McDaniels just missed out a triple-double last week at Lewis County with 10 points, nine rebounds and nine steals.

“It’s crazy because I have never had a triple-double before,” stated McDaniels. “I didn’t even know I had one until after the game. This was all about my teammates and being there for me. Without them it’s not possible; they are such a blessing to play with. I just want to thank God for giving me this ability to do this for my teammates.”

Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Rob Kittle said he is running out of words to describe McDaniels’ play.

“I am probably going to need a thesaurus,” joked Kittle. “She just continues to impress me every time she takes the court. It’s just a great honor for her to get. I really have run out of words to describe her; she is simply a great leader and I couldn’t be happier for her.”

It was a top 10 battle as the Lady Bucs were ranked seventh in Class AAAA and East Fairmont was ranked eighth in Class AAA, but it was all Lady Bucs as they never trailed in the contest.

B-U took an early 6-1 lead only to see the Bees score five straight after that, tying the game at 6-6.

It was all Buckhannon-Upshur after that as McDaniels scored six straight points and Kyndal Davis put a basket in the paint for an 8-0 run, giving the Lady Bucs a 14-6 lead with 2:29 remaining in the opening quarter.

Following a free throw by East Fairmont, B-U ended the quarter with five straight points capped off by a Gabby Parke lay-up for a 19-7 advantage.

East Fairmont closed their gap to eight, at 27-19, before McDaniels uncorked a three-pointer giving the Lady Bucs a 30-19 lead with 3:31 left in the opening half.

Kenna Maxwell hit a trey to wrap up an 11-2 run for the Lady Bucs to end the half as they took a 41-21 advantage into the intermission.

The only issue Kittle had to maneuver in that first half was foul trouble for the Lady Bucs as East Fairmont was already in the 1+1 situation at the foul line with a minute still to play in the first quarter.

“We managed to get ourselves into some foul trouble in the first half, but we were able to push through that and played smart the rest of the way not having anyone foul out of the game,” noted Kittle.

B-U started the third quarter on a 10-0 run, getting baskets from Kendal Currence and Davis and then six straight points from McDaniels, opening up a 30-point lead at 51-21.

The Lady Bucs owned a 53-25 advantage going into the final stanza.

A basket by Parke at the 3:06 mark of the fourth quarter gave B-U their biggest lead of the game, at 64-33, before the Bees ended the contest with the final three points.

Kittle said he and his team were eager to take the floor again after seeing their seven-game winning streak come to an end Saturday at the hands of Parkersburg South.

“We came into a tough place to play against a very good team, and we controlled it from start to finish,” stated Kittle. “We were eager to get back on the court and see how we would react to the loss on Saturday. I couldn’t he happier with how we came back and responded. It shows what type of team we are and the type of team we can be. I was very pleased with our effort and how we controlled this game against a very good team.”

McDaniels added that Saturday’s loss might help the team in the long run.

“Saturday was hard but I think we needed something like that,” she stated. “We needed a wake-up call to have the understanding that we can be beat on any given day. We needed to realize we need to be that team that wins on any given day. Coming out tonight, we proved that.”

Buckhannon-Upshur shot the ball well, hitting on 27 of their 52 field goal attempts for 51.9 percent while limiting East Fairmont to a 23.7 percent shooting night as they connected on just 14 of their 59 attempts, including going just 1-for-19 from behind the three-point arc.

Currence had a strong game in the victory for the Lady Bucs with 19 points and eight rebounds.

Kenly Rogers led East Fairmont with 10 points. East Fairmont dropped to 11-6 on the year.

Buckhannon-Upshur improved to 15-4 on the season. They will be back in action Tuesday, hosting Elkins at 7:30 p.m.