Despite a few bumps along the road, Aberdeen Roncalli found a way to smooth things out Monday night.

The Cavaliers pulled away from Sully Buttes for a 58-34 non-conference girls’ basketball win at Roncalli Gym.

Roncalli coach Derek Larson said the Cavaliers played well at times and shaky at others throughout the contest.

“I thought we played really well in spurts,” Larson said. “I thought we didn’t play well to start the game. They took advantage of some miscues that we had early. I thought we shot the ball well in spurts.”

Roncalli scored seven unanswered points to erase an early deficit and build a comfortable 18-10 lead after the first quarter.

“I thought we had good looks a lot,” Larson said. “I thought we missed a lot of bunnies.”

While Roncalli was having its struggles, the Chargers were also dealing with similar struggles of their own.

“Defensively, they played great against us,” said Sully Buttes coach Susie Rilling. “Offensively, we needed to make our layups and shoot the ball. Every time we shot the ball on the outside it wasn’t falling for us, but what really hurt us was missing all of those layups.”

The Cavaliers used an aggressive defense that limited quality looks for the Chargers.

“We pride ourselves on defense, so when you play good on defense, it (keeps) you in all of the games,” said Roncalli sophomore Claire Crawford.

A key focus for the Cavaliers’ defense was working to slow down Sully Buttes senior guard Stevie Wittler, who consistently raced down the floor for transition lay-up attempts and drove to the basket, while also distributing the ball to her teammates.

“I can definitely tell they watched film, because I know they did some things to stop our strengths,” Wittler said. “They had three back at all times; I mean, I’m normally running back for a wide-open fast break and they were there to cover that. I was face-guarded at the beginning of the game, which always works out for teams. They definitely did their homework and they’re a very good team.”

While the Cavaliers missed some shots in the opening half, they still built a 29-16 halftime lead and carried the momentum into the second half, when they took control on the defensive end.

“I thought overall our defense was really good in the second half,” Larson said. “We gave up six points in the third quarter into about midway through the fourth. Then we ended up giving up (12) more late (in the game), but I thought we did a really good job defensively.”

Offensively, Roncalli had a balanced scoring effort, with Crawford leading the way with 13 points, while Rylee Voeller provided 10 off the bench. Ava Hanson and McKenna O’Keefe each had nine.

“In order for a team to be good, you have to have multiple people that can score for you, because if you have one person that can score, just guard them and then you can’t score,” Crawford said. “But we have multiple people that can score and step up, so it works good for us.”

Rilling said the Chargers defense struggled to handle the Cavaliers’ multiple scoring options.

“We had a tough time at the start to get out on the shooters,” Rilling said. “They have great three-point shooters on the outside, so it was tough with that, but we also got beat on the back end. We got beat going down the floor, so that hurt us as well.”

Wittler led Sully Buttes with 14 points. She said the Chargers (4-5) will look to continue to improve heading into their next contest at home against Miller on Thursday.

“We’ve just been struggling these past few games working on the little things,” Wittler said. “Of course, we’re having a tough time finishing at the basket. We’re normally not missing so many bunnies and free throws, so we’ve just got to keep working in practice and get back into rhythm.”

The Cavaliers (7-1) will prepare for tonight’s contest at Faulkton. The Trojans are also 7-1 on the season.

“(Faulkton will) play a zone (tonight). They’ll probably play a 1-3-1 I would imagine, which they’ve been playing lately,” Larson said. “They’re really physical in the post, very similar to the Sissetons and the Herreid-Selbys. We’ll have to be ready for post play (tonight), especially physical post play out of them. We’ll have to make shots to win.”

SULLY BUTTES (4-5): Payge Bakker 2 1-4 5, Olivia Olson 1 0-0 2, Stevie Wittler 5 3-4 14, Addison Chicoine 1 1-2 3, Natalie Miles 0 2-2 2, Berkley Birney 1 0-0 2, Scotlynn Kinney 2 0-0 4, Ally Buhler 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 7-12 34.

ABERDEEN RONCALLI (7-1): McKenna O’Keefe 4 1-2 9, Camryn Bain 1 2-3 4, Maddie Huber 3 0-0 7, Claire Crawford 5 0-0 13, Ava Hanson 3 3-4 9, Morgan Helms 3 0-4 6, Rylee Voeller 5 0-1 10. Totals 24 6-14 58.

Sully Buttes 10 16 22 34

Aberdeen Roncalli 18 29 46 58

3-point field goals – Wittler; Crawford (3), Huber. Total fouls – Sully Buttes 11; Aberdeen Roncalli 10.