On Senior Night, it was fitting that all four Aberdeen Roncalli seniors made their way into the scoring column at Roncalli Gym.

The Cavaliers closed out the regular season with a 58-24 Northeast Conference girls’ basketball victory over Deuel Thursday night.

“Yeah, it was really special. It was nice, Emma Vogel got in, got to score tonight. The whole crowd erupted for her,” said Roncalli coach Derek Larson. “Happy for her, and happy for our seniors to be able to also play together for a limited time to start the fourth quarter.”

The Cavaliers did not get distracted by the Senior Night festivities and were able to set the tone defensively from the beginning, only allowing two points in the first quarter to the Cardinals.

“We know that’s how we got to win games, is play on the defensive end and that’s what we had to do in the first half,” said Larson. “Good effort defensively, especially in the first half.”

The strength of Roncalli played into the weakness of Deuel.

“I think one of our struggles all year long has been handling the basketball when we face good pressure,” said Deuel coach Randy Haakenson. “Roncalli has a really good press. We tend to struggle with that and that’s obviously a huge difference in the game.”

The defensive prowess of the Cavaliers rolled over into the second quarter when Cavalier freshman Gabby Thomas forced two steals out of the gate. The first one led to an assist on a Morgan Helms layup, and the other she put up herself, accounting for the first four points of the period.

“She’s super athletic. She missed a catch where she kind of caught it one-handed, ended up going out of bounds. But you don’t see many kids, especially high school girls, be able to do that at 14 years old as a freshman,” said Larson. “She’ll only continue to get better offensively. But she’s tough on the defensive end.”

The Cavaliers extended their lead to 38-9 lead at half. Ava Hanson had an 11-point second quarter, scoring from all over the floor.

“I don’t think shots fell tonight, and that’s gonna happen. But you just adjust,” said Hanson. “Shots weren’t falling, so you gotta attack the rim. And midrange pullup was there tonight, so that’s what I kept doing. You just gotta adjust.”

With a running clock in the second half, the Cardinals came out of halftime outscoring the Cavaliers 6-3 in the first 4 and a half minutes of the third period.

“I’ve always said, if you’re gonna get beat on a running clock, there’s a difference between a good loss and an ugly loss,” said Haakenson. “But I think one of our strengths this year is that the girls keep working hard, even if they’re down. And to me, that’s really important. Tells me something about who they are, too.”

The Cardinals went on to score 15 points in the second half, compared to nine in the first, but Haakenson gave all the credit to Roncalli.

“Playing good teams, they tend to do that to you. So, I’d give them more credit than maybe what we didn’t do,” said Haakenson. “It was more about what Roncalli did. Solid team.”

Hanson finished with a game-high 20 points, followed by Rylee Voeller with 11, and McKenna O’Keefe with nine.

Deuel received eight points from Jaycee Hourigan and six from Camdyn Peterreins.

With the conclusion of the regular season, regions will begin next week in a much-anticipated part of the season for Roncalli.

“I think we’re all ready for the postseason and what that brings to the table,” Larson said. “Just a new mentality and you know, everyone’s 0-0 now. Records don’t matter.”

The Cardinals are in Region 2A, which has some solid contenders as well.

“The road doesn’t get any easier. We’re playing Sioux Valley. We saw them earlier in the year,” said Haakenson. “Got four really good teams in the top four seeds. We’ve seen all of them and know that they’re good.”

Hanson and the other seniors (O’Keefe, Vogel and Maddie Huber) enjoyed their final regular-season home game.

“You know, it’s surreal. I mean, you work so hard and then it has to come to an end. Just take it how it is, have fun, go out there and play with everybody. I mean Emma hitting that shot at the end was pretty awesome,” Hanson said. “We just came out and had fun. That’s the biggest thing.”

Roncalli will be home again in the Region 1A tourney next week, likely hosting Redfield on Tuesday. Official pairings will be announced later this week.

DEUEL (4-16): Jaycee Hourigan 3 0-0 8, Alayna Carlson 2 0-0 4, Graclyn Nielsen 0 2-2 2, Camdyn Peterreins 3 0-1 6, Katrina Hagberg 1 0-0 2, Ella Kerkvliet 1 0-0 2. Totals 10 2-3 24.

ABERDEEN RONCALLI (15-5): McKenna O’Keefe 3 2-2 9, Maddie Huber 0 2-2 2, Claire Crawford 1 0-0 2, Rylee Voeller 4 0-0 11, Ava Hanson 7 4-4 20, Gabby Thomas 1 0-1 2, Morgan Helms 2 0-0 4, Grace Cogley 0 2-2 2, Emma Vogel 1 0-0 2, Karsyn Davis 2 0-0 4. Totals 21 10-11 58.

Deuel 2 9 15 24

Aberdeen Roncalli 13 38 45 58

3-point field goals – Hourigan 2; O’Keefe, Voeller 3, Hanson 2. Total fouls – Deuel 8; Aberdeen Roncalli 8.