After a rough first half to start out the season, the Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles responded in a big way to rally for a victory Friday night.

The Eagles, who trailed the entire opening half, dominated the final 16 minutes on the way to a 49-34 non-conference girls’ basketball win over Rapid City Central.

“We got some better matchups and combinations in that second half,” said Central coach Mikayla Arechigo.

Aberdeen went scoreless for nearly the first five minutes of the contest and had 16 turnovers in opening half, yet trailed by just 14-12 at the break.

“I think those jitters in a young team just really show with those shots not quite falling. I don’t know how many shots we missed long, but I think there’s just that adrenaline. These kids were excited to play,” Arechigo said. “So you go into the locker room and you’re not scoring very much, and you have a ton of turnovers, there’s just that excitement from the kids. You just have to keep telling them we have to settle in, but keep being aggressive on the boards, because that’s what ultimately kept us in the game.”

The Eagles did not hang their heads. Instead, they refocused and came out determined in the third quarter.

“I think we just came more together as a team,” said Aberdeen center Taryn Hermansen. “After that first half we were able to know more what to expect and be able to calm down a little bit, and just go out and play.”

The tone changed completely just 13 seconds into the second half when Madison Miller nailed a three-point field goal to give the Eagles their first lead of the game. It marked a sign of things to come for the rest of the game.

“I knew once that went in that we were just going to have a good half,” Hermansen said, “and we were going to go out and win.”

That shot ignited a spark which saw the hosts shoot 69 percent from the field in the final half to take total control. Once the outside shots started falling, it opened things up on the inside where Aberdeen had a decided height advantage.

Meanwhile, the Eagles began to take better care of the ball, which gave them more offensive opportunities.

“We’ve been doing a lot of press-breaker in practice,” Hermansen said. “I think it really helped, especially in that second half when we were able to get the ball down and then do our play and run it right.”

Arechigo said it was a matter of trying to figure out what needed to be done after the Cobblers did a solid job of shutting down the interior in the opening half.

“We had to kind of take a step back and say alright, what are some of these options now once teams take this away?” Arechigo said. “Luckily our girls were able to make those adjustments.”

Hermansen ended up with 11 points and 14 rebounds to pace the Eagles. She did the bulk of her damage in the second-half surge.

“I was ready to go the second half,” Hermansen said. “The first half I got the jitters out and then I was ready to go the second half and do my thing.”

Lauryn Burckhard topped the Eagles with 14 points, including a trio of three-point field goals.

In the end, Aberdeen Central was able to outscore Rapid City Central 37-20 in the second half.

“We talked at halftime. We can control the controllables,” Arechigo said. “We’re over our turnovers, we’re not trying to miss shots, we can control our effort on the rebounds, we can control our effort in transition, and we can control our attitude and our effort. That’s what we have to do is control those things that we can control.”

The Eagles are right back in action today when they host Rapid City Stevens at 1:30 this afternoon. They will head into that contest with some momentum from their season-opening win.

“The past years we haven’t started off as a strong as we have this year,” Hermansen said. “I think starting out that strong is really going to help us just continue and have fun throughout the year.”

Arechigo knows that today’s foe will present a new set of challenges.

“Stevens will be a tough matchup (Saturday),” she said. “We’ll have to watch a little film tonight and kind of see if we can get those combinations figured out a little earlier in the game.”

RAPID CITY CENTRAL (0-1): Lolo Carlow 4 0-0 8, Tracelyn Strand 1 0-0 2, Aaliyah Jones 4 2-4 12, Leah Landry 4 2-2 10, Villique Fallis 1 0-0 2. Totals 14-48 4-6 34.

ABERDEEN CENTRAL (1-0): Taylor Lyke 2 0-0 5, Madison Miller 1 4-6 7, Caydi Withers 1 0-0 2, Lauryn Burckhard 4 3-4 14, Taryn Hermansen 4 3-4 11, Ayrlie Waldo 1 2-4 4, Kenadi Withers 0 2-2 2, Kaylee Donat 2 0-1 4. Totals 15-33 14-21 49.

Rapid City Central 8 14 23 34

Aberdeen Central 6 12 32 49

3-point field goals – Jones 2; Lyke, Miller, Burckhard 3. Fouled out – Jones, Landry. Total fouls – Rapid City Central 18; Aberdeen Central 10. Rebounds – Rapid City Central 19 (Landry 5); Aberdeen Central 39 (Hermansen 14). Turnovers – Rapid City Central 13; Aberdeen Central 26. Assists – Rapid City Central 4 (Carlow 3); Aberdeen Central 4. Steals – Rapid City Central 12 (Marielle Colhoff 3, Elise Nopola 3); Aberdeen Central 7.