RAPID CITY – The Aberdeen Central girls basketball squad opened the Paiton Burckhard coaching era with a victory Friday evening, taking down Rapid City Central 39-26 on the road.

The Golden Eagles found themselves off to a slow start, trailing 11-4 in the opening stanza, but closed that deficit to just one point, 18-17, by halftime.

“I loved what I saw tonight,” Burckhard said. “We fought hard, were super resilient and most importantly, we wanted to win. We saw a little bit of foul trouble, and we didn’t knock down shots that we should early on, but we didn’t let up. We played good defense and shut down their best player.”

Central took over in the third quarter, outscoring the host Cobblers 15-2 in the period. Central opened the quarter on a 10-0 run, eight of those 10 points coming from sophomore Lauryn Burckhard, who had been held scoreless in the first half.

That surge opened the gates for the Golden Eagles, whose lead never dipped back into the single digits.

“I am super proud of our girls,” the elder Burckhard said. “All across the board, I liked our team’s energy at all levels.”

Lauryn Burckhard finished with 14 points on the night, all in the second half. Taryn Hermansen had 16 points and six boards for the Golden Eagles while Emma Dohrer had four points, three rebounds and six steals.

Rapid City Central got a game-best 18 points from Leah Landry, but just two other Cobblers found their way into the scoring column. Chloe Schreve finished with six points, and Olivia Pierce had two points, as the Cobblers shot just 23 percent from the floor.

The Golden Eagles will be back on the floor this afternoon, taking on Rapid City Stevens at 1:30 p.m. (MST) to round out their West River trip.

“Quick turn around, and against a team that has a similar style – ball screens, dribble drive, lots of guards and ultimately better athleticism,” Burckhard said. “Our girls are really going to have to dig deep (Saturday) and fight through tiredness, and I know they can do it.”

ABERDEEN CENTRAL (1-0): Ava Yeske 0 1-2 1, Kenadi Withers 0 1-2 1, Emma Dohrer 1 2-2 4, Lauryn Burckhard 5 0-0 14, Taryn Hermansen 7 2-4 16, Kamdyn Borge 1 0-0 3. Totals 14-49 6-10 39.

RAPID CITY CENTRAL (0-1): Chloe Schreve 2 2-3 7, Leah Landry 5 7-10 18, Olivia Pierce 1 0-0 2. Totals 8-35 9-13 26.

Aberdeen Central 5 17 32 39

Rapid City Central 11 18 20 26

3-pt field goals – Burckhard 4, Borge; Landry. Fouls – Aberdeen Central 9; Rapid City Central 12. Rebounds – Aberdeen Central 32 (Hermansen 6, Withers 6); Rapid City Central 32 (Landry 8). Turnovers – Aberdeen Central 11; Rapid City Central 22. Steals – Aberdeen Central 12 (Dohrer 6); Rapid City Central 8 (Landry 4).