RAPID CITY – Aberdeen Central got off to another slow start on Saturday afternoon, but unlike Friday’s victory, the Golden Eagles could not recover against Rapid City Stevens.

The Raiders played with a lead the entire way en route to a 67-41 non-conference victory over Central.

“I’m proud of our girls from the weekend,” said Central coach Paiton Burckhard. “Playing on the road is hard, and playing against two good teams on the road is hard.”

The Raiders pulled away from an 11-point halftime lead and improved to 2-0 on the young season.

“Stevens is going to be a tough team and it’ll be interesting to see what teams can challenge them this season,” Burckhard said. “They are quick, shoot the ball in transition well and caused us to speed up, which isn’t our style of play.”

The Golden Eagles were able to do some damage inside, but committed 24 turnovers to prevent more oppportunities.

“I thought our posts handled the aggressiveness in the post well and fought through some adversity,” Burckhard said. “We just couldn’t get into our half-court offense and get them the ball as much as we needed to due to the intense full-court pressure.”

Taaliya Porter had a game-high 24 points for Stevens.

Taryn Hermansen topped the Golden Eagles with 14 points. Lauryn Burckhard contributed seven points, nine rebounds, a pair of blocks and two steals.

Central, 1-1 on the season, hosts Spearfish on Friday night, and Sturgis on Saturday afternoon at Golden Eagles Arena.

“Our girls had good effort and this weekend we had a lot of positives and things we will need to work and build on,” Coach Burckhard said. “It was good to finally play after a couple weeks of practice.”

ABERDEEN CENTRAL (1-1): Ava Yeske 0 1-2 1, Kenadi Withers 2 1-1 5, Emma Dohrer 2 0-0 6, Lauryn Burckhard 3 0-0 7, Taryn Hermansen 5 4-6 14, Kamdyn Borge 2 0-0 5, Julia Malsam 1 0-0 2, Kianna Erickson 0 1-2 1. Totals 15-39 7-12 41.

RAPID CITY STEVENS (2-0): Brittany Jones 1 0-0 3, Taaliya Porter 9 5-5 24, Finley Love 4 2-2 12, Jessa Griswold 0 2-2 2, Everley Peterson 2 1-2 7, Hayden Thorton 1 2-2 4, MacKenzie Schreiber 4 0-0 10, Marley Seumanutafa 1 0-0 4. Totals 22-56 15-17 67.

Aberdeen Central 14 21 32 41

Rapid City Stevens 21 32 51 67

3-point field goals – Dohrer 2, Burckhard, Borge; Jones, Porter, Love 2, Peterson 2, Schreiber 2. Total fouls – Aberdeen Central 12; Rapid City Stevens 14. Rebounds – Aberdeen Central 34 (Burckhard 9); Rapid City Stevens 24 (Porter 6, Peterson 6). Turnovers – Aberdeen Central 24; Rapid City Stevens 8. Assists – Aberdeen Central 5; Rapid City Stevens 8. Blocks – Aberdeen Central 2 (Burckhard 2); Rapid City Stevens 1. Steals – Aberdeen Central 3 (Burckhard 2); Rapid City Stevens 13 (Love).