Entering the second to final week of the regular season, the Wauzeka-Steuben Hornets girls basketball needed a pair of wins to move back into a tie with De Soto for first place in the Ridge & Valley Conference.

First up for the Hornets was a visit from Seneca on Tuesday, Feb. 10 and the Hornets came away with a 44-27 victory. Leading the Hornets in scoring was senior Isabella Bunders with 16 points. She grabbed 10 rebounds to finish with a double-double. Senior Macy Mitchell scored seven points while also leading the team with 14 rebounds.

Rounding out the scoring tally for the Hornets was senior Natalie Wright (six points), freshman Abby Wright (five points), junior Claire Wright and sophomore Hayley Mitchell (four points each) and junior Brynnlee Benoy (two points).

The Hornets traveled to De Soto three nights later looking to keep the Pirates from clinching the conference championship and unfortunately for the visitors, the Pirates won 54-38  to earn their first Ridge & Valley Conference Championship in girls basketball since 2006. Stats for this game were not available as of press time.

Wauzeka-Steuben fell to 18-4 overall  and 9-2 in the Ridge & Valley Conference with the loss, while De Soto improved to 17-6 overall and 12-0 in the conference.

The Hornets wrap up their regular season schedule with a pair of games this week. First up was a non-conference contest against River Ridge this past Monday night before hosting La Farge/Youth Initiative this Friday night at 7:15 p.m.

Wauzeka-Steuben earned the fourth seed in their D5 sectional bracket and will host 13th seed Southwestern in the regional quarterfinal round on Tuesday, Feb. 24 with the winner moving on to face the winner of the game between fifth seed Highland and 12th seed Boscobel in the regional semifinal round on Friday, Feb. 27.