HURON — After getting off to a quick start, Aberdeen Central held on for a 53-47 victory against Huron on Saturday at Huron Arena.
Melanie Jacobs connected on all three of the 3-pointers for the Golden Eagles in the opening quarter to help them to a a 12-0 start and a 21-7 lead heading into the second quarter.
“We started out in zone and tried to cover the boxes. We just couldn’t cover it,” Huron coach Tim Buddenhagen said. “Jacobs comes out and hits three 3s, that’s nine points and they were able to stuff it inside. We weren’t really physical.
“I thought they came in and were the tougher team, they got after us and we didn’t really do that back,” he said. “Once they started grabbing, holding and the refs aren’t calling it, you have to do that back and we didn’t do that.”
The Tigers battled back in the second stanza by outscoring Aberdeen Central 14-4 during the first four minutes of the eight-minute frame.
Bella Shreeve started the rally with a 3-pointer, while freshman Isabelle Ellwein followed with a conventional 3-point place and Alexis Feenstra knocked down the second of her three 3-pointers in the game to slice Aberdeen Central’s lead to 25-16.
A steal and pull-up jumper by Tenley Buddenhagen, which was followed on the next possession by a another 3-pointer by Shreeve sliced Huron’s deficit to just four points, 25-21, with 4:02 remaining in the first half.
The final four minutes belonged to the Golden Eagles, as they used an 8-2 run to take a 33-23 lead at the half.
Aberdeen Central maintained a double-digit advantage for much of the third quarter, which ended with the visiting team holding a 45-33 lead.
After trailing by as many as 16 points in the final quarter, the Tigers mounted a comeback bid during the final four minutes of the game.
With a string of nine unanswered points, Huron shaved its deficit to seven points. Buddenhagen converted on a pair of free throws and Feenstra followed with her final 3-pointer of the game to set the stage for the surge.

After a pair of free throws by Havyn Heinz, Buddenhagen came up with a steal and was fouled heading to the basket. She nailed two more free throws to cut the lead for the Golden Eagles to 55-44 with 2:38 to play.
Aberdeen Central used a 1-of-2 effort at the line from Abby Kopecky to add to its lead, but Buddenhagen answered with s 3-pointer to pull the Tigers as close as they would get at 52-47.
“I just thought it was not very physical on the inside, but it was really physical up top. When we can get pushed off our spots and they can get into us, just like Mitchell, we just don’t deal with that very well,” Buddenhagen said. “If you take a look, the DakStats are pretty similar until you get to the free throws, 24-8. To me that is disheartening.
“Again, they have post players in there that are 5-10, 5-11 and we’re trying to fight and get around and they’ll call a foul,” he said. “But if we come off a ball screen and we get bumped off our spot that isn’t a foul. It’s hard for me to understand that.”
Kusler finished with 16 points to lead three players in double figures for Aberdeen Central, who improved to 5-4. Jacobs and Teryn Hettich added 13 points each.
Kusler also had 10 of the 32 rebounds in the game for the Golden Eagles, and had three steals. Hettich recorded three steals as well.
Buddenhagen and Feenstra each finished with 11 points for the Tigers, who are now 4-6. Shreeve added 10 points.
Buddenhagen also had team-highs with four rebounds and seven steals for Huron.
“She anticipated really well,” Buddenhagen said of his daughter’s ability to wreak havoc on the defensive end with seven steals. “We have some work to do on the offensive end, but she competed tonight as I thought we did in the second half. She was down in there, rebounding, scrapping, doing everything she can to help the team and she just has to continue to do that.”
The Huron freshman team inked a 54-28 win against Aberdeen Central. Hamtyn Heinz led the Tigers with 25 points, while Kirsten Janes had 12 points. Gainey and Bryn Huber added seven and six points, respecitively.
The Huron junior varsity also recorded a win on Saturday. Reese Rozell and Ellwein had 15 and 14 points, respectively, for Huron, while Brooklyn Boetel added 10 points.  
The Tigers will return to action at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Harrisburg.

Aberdeen Central     21  33  45  53
Huron           7  23  33  47
Aberdeen Central (5-4): Melanie Jacobs 5 0-0 13; Teryn Hettich 4 5-8 13; Abby Kopecky 2 1-2 5; Allie Bauer 0 4-4 4; Brooklyn Kusler 6 4-6 16; Hannah Struble 0 0-04 0; Jordan Hermansen 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 14-24 53.
Huron (4-6): Bella Shreeve 4 0-1 10; Tenley Buddenhagen 3 4-4 11; Havyn Heinz 2 2-2 6; Alexis Feenstra 4 0-0 11; Brooke Schiltz 1 0-0 2; Heaven Gainey 2 0-0 4; Isabelle Ellwein 1 1-1 3. Totals: 17 7-8 47.
Rebounds: AC 32 (Kusler 10); H 15 (Buddenhagen 4). 3-point goals: AC 3 (Jacobs 3); H 6 (Feenstra 3, Shreeve 2, Buddenhagen 1). Turnovers: AC 14; H 13. Assists: AC 1; H 2. Steals: AC 8 (Hettich 3, Kusler 3); H 11 (Buddenhagen 7). Fouls: AC 15; H 15.