The Yankton girls' basketball team ran into a cold wind on the trip to Aberdeen and cold shooting hands in the gym at Aberdeen Central High School.
Despite trailing by just five points at halftime, Yankton lost to Aberdeen Central 53-34 in a Saturday afternoon game at Golden Eagles Arena. The Gazelles set the tone in the first half, but the second half belonged to Aberdeen in the girls' high school game in Eastern South Dakota Conference action. Aberdeen Central improved to 15-0 overall, 11-0 in the ESD and is ranked number one in the recent Class AA poll. Yankton dropped to 3-10 overall, 3-6 ESD.
Fresh off a Friday win over Pierre, Yankton led 11-10 at the end of the first quarter. The Golden Eagles opened the second quarter with a five-point run. Yankton made 3 of 4 free throws to pull within one point at 15-14 with four minutes left before half. Yankton's Morgan Tessier hit a field goal to beat the buzzer before halftime as Central led just 21-16. Central point guard Kelsey Hannigan spent several minutes on the bench in the first half with foul problems.
"That (foul trouble) was the tale of the game," said Central girls' coach Dawn Seiler. "Both teams had to make adjustments because of foul issues. Theirs was in the second half and ours was in the first half. You take Hannigan out of the mix and we're a different team."
With Hannigan on the bench, Central moved Brynn Flakus to the point.
"Kelsey does so much for us," said Seiler. "She's not worried about being a shooter. She's worried about organizing the team and getting the ball where it's supposed to go. She does such a good job of that. She makes everybody else better on the court. We slide Brynn over into the one and Leah played there a little bit just trying to get some things done."
The Gazelles shot just 19 percent from the field (5 of 26) in the first half.
"We need to get better ball pressure and make it difficult for opponents to get their players into their main scoring areas. We're always trying to take away what we feel are their best options. We got in a little foul trouble doing it and we had to make some adjustments," said Seiler.
The Golden Eagles' two post players, Samantha Knecht and Sara Niederbaumer, combined for just 10 points in the first half.
"We practice every spot every day in practice," said Flakus about her move to point. "We wanted to get into our offense and be more patient offensively. That was the key to the game. When we're more patient that really opens up the middle for our bigs."
The Gazelles cool shooting hand continued as Yankton connected on just 19 percent of its field goals in the game (5 of 26). Yankton made just three field goals in the second half; two of them in the closing minutes.
"Yankton had a ball game last night. They made a long trip here. All of those things factor into how a team shoots. There was no flow to the game. Yankton is a physical basketball team and they'll make you earn your points," said Seiler.
It was Yankton's turn to run into foul trouble in the second half and with Hannigan's return to the lineup, the offense started to flow, especially inside. Aberdeen outscored Yankton 14-4 in the third quarter and built the lead to 21 points late in the game.
The Gazelles had just one double-digit scorer -- Mikala Hora had 11 points and added seven rebounds.
The Golden Eagles had three leading scorers with Knecht at 13, and Flakus and Niederbaumer with 12 each. Knecht had 10 rebounds, four blocked shots and three assists.
Aberdeen Central has a big ESD game against the second place team, Mitchell, on Friday at Mitchell. Yankton hits the road on Thursday for an ESD game at Huron.
|VARSITY|
YANKTON: Andi Sparkel 0-4 2-2 2, Mikala Hora 2-6 5-6 11, Kelsey Fitzgerald 1-4 4-6 6, Morgan Tessier 3-12 2-2 8, Kelsey Butler 0-7 0-0 0, Brianna Newman 1-1 0-0 2, Whitlee Larson 1-5 2-2 4, Jessica Wirth 0-1 0-0 0, Becky Frick 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 8-42 16-20 35.
ABERDEEN CENTRAL: Kelsey Hannigan 2-4 0-0 6, Samantha Knecht 4-8 5-8 13, Brynn Flakus 4-9 4-4 12, Leah Beringer 1-3 0-0 3, Sara Niederbaumer 6-10 0-2 12, Jamie Larson 0-2 0-0 0, Ally Steckler 1-1 0-0 2, Maddy Goetz 0-1 0-0 0, Brianna Kusler 1-4 1-2 3, Erica Shields 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 20-43 10-16 53.
Yankton (3-10)|11 16 20 34
Aberdeen Central (15-0)|10 21 35 53
3-point field goals -- Yankton 2-4 (Hora 2-3, Wirth 0-1); Aberdeen 3-8 (Hannigan 2-3, Flakus 0-2, Beringer 1-3). Fouled out -- Fitzgerald. Total fouls -- Yankton 15; Aberdeen 15. Rebounds -- Yankton 26 (Hora 7); Aberdeen 35 (Knecht 10). Turnovers -- Yankton 17; Aberdeen 17. Assists -- Yankton 2; Aberdeen 16 (Flakus 5). Steals -- Yankton 9; Aberdeen 8. Blocked shots -- Yankton 8 (Fitzgerald 4); Aberdeen 5 (Knecht 4). Officials -- Lee Johnson, Greg Blue, Matt Clark.
|JUNIOR VARSITY|
|Aberdeen Central 47, Yankton 33|
ABERDEEN CENTRAL: Morghan Waage 13, Sydney Waterman 2, Robin Doerr 4, Tara Rook 2, Erica Shields 14, Lauren Schumacher 8, Emily Miller 2, Abby Brist 2. 17-36 12-24 47.
Yankton| 6 13 20 33
Aberdeen Central|12 24 38 47
3-point field goals -- Waage. Rebounds -- Central 25 (Shields 6).
|SOPHOMORE|
|Aberdeen Central 55, Yankton 33|
ABERDEEN CENTRAL: Sydney Johnson 10, Jamie Larson 12, Lauren Schumacher 10, Emily Miller 10, Kaylee Kappes 2, Madisyn Waage 4, Megan Kingsriter 2, Mia Bergan 5.
Yankton| 6 12 26 33
Aberdeen Central|16 29 41 55
3-point field goals -- Waage. Rebounds -- Central 31 (Larson 5).
|FRESHMEN|
|Aberdeen Central 41, Yankton 32|
ABERDEEN CENTRAL: Emily Brennan 2, Ally Steckler 13, Megan Kingsriter 12, Mia Bergan 8, Megan Krisch 6.
Yankton| 5 15 26 32
Aberdeen Central|10 23 33 41
3-point field goals -- Steckler.