PIERRE – Anna Malchow scored 15 second-half points, all from beyond the three-point line, to keep Aberdeen Central in contention, but the Golden Eagles could not overcome a strong finish from Pierre Tuesday night, falling 63-54 to the Governors in an Eastern South Dakota Conference girls’ basketball contest.

Malchow finished with 18 total points, all on three-pointers, while Taryn Hermansen was a near-unstoppable force in the post, finishing with 22 points.

But it was a 24-point outburst from Pierre in the fourth quarter that squashed what had been a modest two-game win streak for the Golden Eagles.

“Taryn Hermansen and Anna Malchow had great nights offensively,” said Central coach Mikayla Arechigo. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done on the defensive end. We talked about locating shooters, especially in corners, but didn’t execute that, especially down the stretch. We had some miscues on the defensive end and Pierre is just too good a team to have as many as we did.”

The Governors, who improved to 9-2, were led by Remi Price’s 21 points. Reese Terwilliger finished with 17 points, and Ryann Barry added 15.

Central, now 3-6 on the season, will head to Yankton next Tuesday for a 5:30 p.m. tip.

ABERDEEN CENTRAL (3-6): Anna Malchow 6 0-0 18, Taryn Hettich 1 0-1 2, Madison Miller 1 0-0 2, Grace Kuch 2 0-7 4, Lauryn Burckhard 3 0-0 6, Taryn Hermansen 9 4-5 22. Totals 22 4-13 54.

PIERRE (9-2): Remi Price 8 3-4 21, Ryann Barry 3 9-14 15, Ayvrie Kaiser 1 2-5 4, Reese Terwilliger 6 5-8 17, Sydney Tedrow 4 0-0 9. Totals 22 18-31 63.

Aberdeen Central 13 27 37 54

Pierre 13 30 39 63

3-point field goals – Malchow 6; Price 2, Tedrow.