Pace got the better of power on Saturday afternoon at Golden Eagles Arena.

Brandon Valley pushed the tempo, got out in transition and grabbed a 56-31 Eastern South Dakota Conference girls’ basketball victory over Aberdeen Central.

The Lynx like to play fast and that style helped to negate Central’s inside attack.

“There’s some skilled kids that have worked incredibly hard,” said Brandon Valley coach Mike Zerr of his players. “We were smart enough to kind of look at that and say OK, we’ve got to turn them loose and after that just get out of the way.”

After a near even opening quarter, the Lynx began to gain some separation, opening up a nine-point halftime advantage. Brandon Valley then dominated the second half, forcing the Eagles into numerous turnovers and taking Central out of its offense.

“I think we kind of got caught up in that pace,” said Central coach Mikayla Arechigo. “In the first half we settled in and did a nice job of breaking the press at our pace. Once we kind of went away from creating angles and trying to play over top again, things just really got away from us.”

The Eagles have faced numerous pressure defenses throughout the season, and the Lynx used their length to make life tough on the Central ballhandlers.

“Press breaking is one of the most difficult things during basketball,” said Central guard Ayrlie Waldo, “and they had a really good press and were able to trap us at our weakest spots on the court, and we just weren’t able to get out of it.”

Not only that, but the Eagles got caught up in the fast-paced tempo at times which played right into Brandon Valley’s hands.

“We were just getting caught up with their speed and going fast, and that’s when we would turn the ball over,” Waldo said. “We just needed to play our basketball and we weren’t able to do that.”

The Lynx not only created numerous turnovers; they were able to convert some of them into instant offense to help break the game open.

“We want to play at a fast pace like that, whether it’s quick shots or turnovers,” Zerr said, “but you have to finish possessions.”

Part of the issue, according to Arechigo, was that the Eagles had turnovers out front in the second half which led to several breakaways for the Lynx.

“We had talked about how we really don’t want to turn the ball over in that full court, because then we have no defensive rotation,” Arechigo said. “If we have a shot and we aren’t able to get a rebound, we have a little bit of a rotation and play to combat their transition offense, but when you turn over the ball 1-on-2, there’s not a whole lot you can do.”

Brandon Valley improved to 6-3 on the season and provided a warm welcome home for Zerr, a former Aberdeen Roncalli and Northern State football standout.

“It’s great to be back in the Hub City,” Zerr said. “I always love coming back here.”

Lauryn Burckhard had 13 points to lead Central.

Waldo, who made a pair of 3-pointers, had a noteworthy defensive play. The 5-foot-5 senior blocked a shot of Brandon Valley’s 6-1 center.

“I was getting back on defense and then it was basically a 2-on-1 situation,” Waldo said. “I went to go guard the ball and she ended up passing it to their tallest post. I was reaching in to grab it and she was already shooting it, so it kind of worked out in my favor.”

Central, 8-3, had a tough week dropping games to unbeaten O’Gorman and then Brandon Valley. But Arechigo said there is a lot of basketball left, starting by hosting Pierre on Tuesday.

“We’ve played a lot of good basketball and I told the kids too, a bad game doesn’t mean that we’re a bad team or a bad player,” Arechigo said. “We certainly would rather lose now than down the stretch, even though losing is never fun. But hopefully we can take some positive things that we did do well, and things that we didn’t do well, hopefully we can go back and try to clean those up a little bit in practice.”

BRANDON VALLEY (6-3): Ava Kellenberger 1 2-2 4, Kennedi Deckert 4 0-1 10, Madison Geiver 2 0-0 4, Alyvia Padgett 8 1-2 18, Addison Hunsaid 0 1-2 1, Amanda Lease 0 1-2 1, Evie Hoff 1 0-0 3, Gracie Staler 4 1-2 9, Brooke Burnette 2 1-2 5. Totals 22-48 7-13 56.

ABERDEEN CENTRAL (8-3): Ayrlie Waldo 2 0-0 6, Caydi Withers 0 2-2 2, Lauryn Burckhard 5 3-5 13, Taryn Hermansen 1 0-0 2, Emma Dohrer 2 0-0 6, Ashlyn Behrends 0 2-2 2. Totals 10-39 7-9 31.

Brandon Valley 14 28 39 56

Aberdeen Central 13 19 21 31

3-point field goals – Deckert (2), Padgett, Hoff, Burnette; Waldo (2), Dohrer (2). Fouled out – Burnette. Total fouls – Brandon Valley 13; Aberdeen Central 11. Rebounds – Brandon Valley 33 (Salter 7, Geiver 6); Aberdeen Central 27 (Burckhard 8, Hermansen 6). Turnovers – Brandon Valley 15; Aberdeen Central 22. Assists – Brandon Valley 5; Aberdeen Central 5. Steals – Brandon Valley 14 (Kellenberger 3); Aberdeen Central 7.