No. 4 Kernel girls overcome shooting woes to top Aberdeen Central

MITCHELL — Despite a 26.2% shooting clip on Tuesday night, the Mitchell High School girls basketball team found a way past Aberdeen Central.

The Class AA No. 4-ranked Kernels outlasted the Golden Eagles 42-33 at the Corn Palace in Eastern South Dakota Conference action, bouncing back from Saturday’s loss to Spearfish. It’s Mitchell’s ninth win in the past 10 games and also the sixth time this season the Kernels held an opponent to 35 points or less.

Focusing on containing Aberdeen’s post duo of Lauryn Burckhard and Taryn Hermansen, both listed at 6-foot-1 and 6-foot-2, respectively, in practice on Monday, Kernels head coach Dave Brooks was pleased by the effort on the defensive side.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game and we said, ‘There’s just no easy way around it with those big kids,’” Brooks said. “With our other guards, we tried to cover on the backside and we haven’t really done much this year. Hats off to the kids as they all worked their tails off.”

The pace was slow to begin the game as both teams had trouble finding the basket in the opening quarter. Addie Siemsen’s triple was the lone Kernels field for the first 6 1/2 minutes of the game, until Londyn Schroeder put Mitchell out front with a layup on a fast break.

Burckhard hit a 3-pointer to begin the second quarter, scoring eight of the Golden Eagles’ nine second-quarter points, as Aberdeen held a 12-11 lead. Mitchell went on a 10-3 run to close out the first half, keyed by Londyn Hajek’s triple and the Kernels also adjusting to the post being taken away.

“We couldn’t get real deep (inside) because you get in there and (Hermansen and Burckhard) are there,” Brooks said. “The girls tried to pull up a little bit and take jump shots or kick it out before they got too far inside.”

Mitchell’s inconsistent shooting allowed Aberdeen (7-7, 3-4 ESD) to pull ahead by one in the third quarter, as the Kernels went 0-of-10 from the field, but were 6-of-6 from the foul line. At the start of the fourth, Lauren Van Overschelde provided a welcomed spark to the offense, scoring seven consecutive points off motion screens, creating a hole from midrange to shoot.

“It was an easy read,” said Van Overschelde on her scoring run, who finished with a game-best 12 points with three assists. “When Kenzie (Peterson) or CeCe (Morgan) was setting a ball screen, they never came up from the post, so we always had room to shoot.”

Emma Dohrer hit a 3-pointer with 53 seconds remaining in the game to pull the Golden Eagles within four points of the Kernels’ lead, but it was as close as they came, as Mitchell sealed the victory at the free throw line with a late offensive board from Siemsen and a steal from Hajek.

Hajek also scored 12 points on 7-of-8 free-throw shooting, narrowly missing a double-double by grabbing nine rebounds. Siemsen added nine points, four rebounds and an assist, and Morgan and Schoeder each had three points off the bench in the game.

Burckhard led the Golden Eagles with 12 points while Hermansen added 11 points, scoring seven in the third quarter. Dohrer finished with seven points and Kenadi Withers finished with three points.

Mitchell (13-3, 6-1 ESD) will have a week off before hitting the road for three of its final four games, beginning with a matchup against No. 2 Sioux Falls Washington on Tuesday, Feb. 18, in Sioux Falls.

No. 4 Mitchell 42, Aberdeen Central 33
Aberdeen Central (7-7): Kamdyn Borge 0 0-0 0 Kenadi Withers 0 3-4 3 Emma Dohrer 2 1-2 7 Lauryn Burckhard 4 2-4 12 Taryn Hermansen 4 3-6 11 Ava Yeske 0 0-0 0 Julia Malsam 0 0-0 0 Camryn Albrect 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 9-16 33.
Mitchell (13-3): Londyn Hajek 2-11 7-8 12 Lauren Van Overschelde 4-10 3-3 12 Carsyn Weich 1-4 0-2 3 Addie Siemsen 2-5 4-4 9 Kenzie Peterson 0-4 1-2 1 Londyn Schroeder 1-2 1-2 3 Matteah Graves 0-1 0-0 0 Delaney Zoss 0-0 0-0 0 CeCe Morgan 1-5 0-0 3. Totals: 11-42 16-21 42.
AC 6 15 28 33
MHS 8 21 27 42
3-pointers: AC 4 (Dohrer 2, Burckhard 2), MHS 4-16 (Hajek 1-7, Van Overschelde 1-3, Siemsen 1-2, Graves 0-1, Morgan 1-3). Rebounds: AC 29, MHS 27 (Hajek 9). Assists: AC n/a, MHS 6 (Van Overschelde 3). Steals: AC n/a, MHS 5 (Van Overschelde 2).

Blake Durham is a Sports Reporter for the Mitchell Republic, having joined in October of 2023. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in December of 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in Communications. Durham can be found covering a variety of prep and collegiate sports in the area.