MITCHELL – The Aberdeen Christian Knights continued to make history Thursday. 

Four months after advancing to the first state volleyball tournament in school history, the ninth-seeded Knights punched their ticket to the Class B girls basketball state tournament with a 46-35 victory over eighth-seeded Centerville in a SoDak 16 matchup in Mitchell.

“It feels good,” said Christian head coach Michael Rohrbach. “(The girls) made it in volleyball, so we were hoping to make it in basketball, too. This was one of our goals at the start of the year, so to see it come to fruition is really special.”

In a game that the Knights rarely trailed – Centerville scored the first two points of the night before falling silent for most of the first quarter – Christian did need to overcome some significant hurdles en route to victory. The Knights battled foul trouble throughout the night, at one point rolling with three players sporting four fouls apiece early in the fourth quarter.

Christian also battled against itself in the turnover department, committing its fair share of both forced and unforced miscues, as well as giving up a handful of offensive rebounds to the Tornadoes.

“We started strong,” Rohrbach said, “but then we let a few things slip through the cracks. Some turnovers, some offensive rebounds that led to some easy points for them and the foul trouble. In a playoff game like that, you have to expect adversity.”

But the Knights had one sure-footed advantage – height. Christian leveraged a significant height advantage in the middle and forced Centerville’s offense more to the perimeter, where the Tornadoes struggled to find the touch on long-range shots. Centerville’s first made 3-pointer did not come until the second half.

The Tornadoes also couldn’t convert from the free-throw line despite Christian’s foul trouble. Centerville was just 4-for-10 at the line and could not put pressure on the Knights with the clock stopped.

Grace Kaiser, who picked up her fourth foul less than a minute into the third quarter, led the way for the Knights in the scoring column with 13 points, all of which came in the first half. Mallory Miller had a dozen points and Joy Rohrbach tallied nine.

Centerville was led by MaKayla Hoesch’s 13 points.

Christian, thanks to Viborg-Hurley’s upset win over Castlewood, will draw the No. 7 seed in the state tournament and avoid a first-round meeting with cross-town opponent and reigning Class A champion Aberdeen Roncalli. Instead, the Knights will face second-seeded DeSmet in the opening round of the Class B tournament, set for March 10-12 at the Watertown Civic Arena. DeSmet is 19-1 on the season.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (20-3): Joy Rohrbach 4 0-0 9, Hanna Miller 3 0-0 6, Mallory Miller 5 2-2 12, Chloe Holt 2 0-0 6, Grace Kaiser 6 1-1 13. Totals 20 3-3 46.

CENTERVILLE (20-3): Lillie Eide 1 2-4 4, Thea Gust 3 0-0 7, Keira Austin 1 0-0 3, MaKayla Hoesch 6 0-2 13, Bailey Hansen 3 1-2 7, Sophie Eide 0 1-2 1. Totals 14 4-10 35.

Aberdeen Christian 13 27 38 46

Centerville 8 13 26 35

3-pt FG – Holt 2, Rohrbach; Gust, Austin, Hoesch. Fouls – Aberdeen Christian 14; Centerville 13.