The bounce wasn’t quite as high as Aberdeen Central may have wanted, but it was enough.

The Golden Eagles overcame a tough shooting game with a dominant rebounding effort and claimed a 45-32 win over Sioux Falls Lincoln Saturday afternoon, a bounce-back victory after Central fell at the hands of No. 3 Sioux Falls Washington just two days prior.

The bounce, however, took a bit to materialize. Central did not score its first points until 10 seconds remaining in the opening period and took a 2-1 lead into the second quarter.

“Every team that we see now knows what we’re trying to do and we have to take some time to see how they’re going to try and take what we want to do away from us and then make those adjustments to get some other things going,” said Central coach Mikayla Arechigo.

Central got a bit more flow going in the second quarter, as Caydi Withers hit a trio of 3-pointers in that stanza to help jump-start some offensive rhythm.

The Golden Eagles then picked up the tempo in the second half, and essentially out-paced the Patriots, easing steadily away as the game went on.

“After a loss, we needed (a win),” said Central freshman Lauryn Burckhard, who scored 15 points to share top scoring honors with Withers. “We haven’t been on a (losing) roll like that, so after a loss … it was good for us that we got that win.”

Central was also dominant on the boards, more than doubling up the Patriots 41-20 in total rebounds. More than half of those (21) came on the offensive end of the floor.

“I was very happy to see our effort on the boards after our Sioux Falls Washington game, where I didn’t think we did a very good job on the boards,” Arechigo said. “We had a lot of rebounds from a lot of different kids today, where against Washington we only had a few kids … going after things. It was a much better team effort going after rebounds instead of expecting just two or three kids to do all the work there.”

Burckhard had 10 rebounds for a double-double, while sophomore center Taryn Hermansen had 11 boards to go with her eight points.

Central needed that effort on the boards, as the Golden Eagles shot 32 percent from the field for the game.

“Getting the boards, it changes the game,” Burckhard said. “That’s the biggest stat in my mind that you need to have.”

Lincoln was led by Kierra Lubovich, who scored 26 of the Patriots’ 32 points. She also had nine rebounds and four steals.

“Sioux Falls Lincoln I think is a team that is going to play better as the season progresses, because they’re a defensive-minded team and that’s what’s important in February and March,” Arechigo said. “Looking at some of their more recent scores, they’re starting to play with some teams that earlier in the season maybe they wouldn’t. They do a good job of taking some transition stuff away from teams and just being solid on the defensive end of things.”

That’s where the uptick in tempo came into play for the Golden Eagles, who made it a point of emphasis in the second half.

“The message in the locker room was we need to start executing the things that we want to execute and not just go through the motions at our pace,” Arechigo said. “We need to start finding our next gear.”

Central will head to Watertown on Tuesday, the first of three straight road games for the Golden Eagles.

SIOUX FALLS LINCOLN (0-8): Emerson Robertson 1 0-0 3, Ciara Valasquez 1 0-0 2, Kierra Lubovich 9 7-10 26, Dalaney Downham 0 1-2 1. Totals 11-34 8-12 32.

ABERDEEN CENTRAL (6-1): Ayrlie Waldo 1 0-0 3, Madison Miller 1 0-0 3, Caydi Withers 4 3-6 15, Taryn Hermansen 4 0-0 8, Emma Dohrer 0 1-2 1, Lauryn Burckhard 6 3-4 15. Totals 16-50 7-12 45.

Sioux Falls Lincoln 1 11 22 32

Aberdeen Central 2 18 32 45

3-point field goals – Sioux Falls Lincoln 2-10 (Robertson, Lubovich); Aberdeen Central 6-19 (Waldo, Miller, Withers 4). Fouls – Sioux Falls Lincoln 12; Aberdeen Central 12. Rebounds – Sioux Falls Lincoln 20 (Lubovich 9); Aberdeen Central 41 (Hermansen 11, Burckhard 10). Assists – Sioux Falls Lincoln 5; Aberdeen Central 14 (Withers 5). Turnovers – Sioux Falls Lincoln 9; Aberdeen Central 12. Steals – Sioux Falls Lincoln 7 (Lubovich 4); Aberdeen Central 5. Blocks – Aberdeen Central 1 (Burckhard).