The Yankton Gazelles put forth their best effort of the season Saturday afternoon and forced the Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles to rally from behind.
The Golden Eagles defeated the Gazelles 55-35 at the Summit Activities Center, but despite the loss, junior Morgan Tessier said the team is still moving forward.
"That was our best start that we've had this year. We played our best basketball for the longest period of time," she said. "We came off really strong, we had a really good start and we played a really nice first half of basketball."
Tying the game early at 8-8, the Gazelles went into the second quarter with a 12-10 lead against the Golden Eagles. The game was tied for the last time at 16-16, and Aberdeen Central ended the first half with a 25-18 lead.
Kelsey Fitzgerald led the Gazelles at the half with six points. Aberdeen's Samantha Knecht scored 10 points and had 12 rebounds at the half, followed by Brynn Flakus with five points.
Yankton's head coach Doug Pesicka said the Gazelles played hard for the first half, but Aberdeen Central was able to come out and show their experience in the third quarter.
"The third quarter Aberdeen was flexing their muscles a little bit," he said. "They're big and strong and very experienced. That got us a little bit in the third, but I'm very proud of how our kids competed. We played to the end and we're just trying to create positive moments we can hang on to. We have a lot of those after this game."
With 5 minutes 7 seconds left in the third quarter, the Golden Eagles led the Gazelles 29-22, and were able to keep their lead to finish out at 40-22 by the end of the quarter and finished the game with a 20-point win.
Aberdeen's head coach Dawn Seiler said the Golden Eagles were flat in the first half, but were able to control the ball better during the second half and pull off the win.
"We have to give Yankton a lot of credit," she said. "They came out and played exceptionally hard in that first half. We were just flat. We got into some foul trouble and didn't play very well in that first half. We got enough done to get a lead, but that was about it.
"The nature of basketball is that you make adjustments. We were really loose with the ball that first quarter, but in the second half, we did a better job of taking care of the ball and that created some scoring opportunities for us. We were able to hit the shots."
Aberdeen Central will face Rapid City Stevens on Friday, and Rapid City Central on Saturday. Both games are at Golden Eagles Arena.
"They've both got some good athletes, so we have to be ready to play," Seiler said. "Our kids are going to have four days off, and it's going to be a good four days. They looked fatigued to me, so hopefully when they come back they'll have fresh legs, be ready to go. This is a group that loves to play together, so we're looking to get a little rest and get back to it."
Yankton hosts Huron on Jan. 3, and Tessier said the Gazelles will continue to improve.
"We've been working on improving defense in practice, and running our offense will be important, because we've really picked up our defense a lot," she said. "This whole season, our coach has given us three options: give in, give up or give it your all. I believe in this team and we're not going to give in - we're going to give it our all."