With a defense focused on the inside, Aberdeen Central went outside to fuel a victory at Golden Eagles Arena Friday night.

The Golden Eagles shot of 8 of 13 from 3-point range and rolled to a 57-26 Eastern South Dakota Conference girls’ basketball win over Brookings.

“I think the girls shot the ball really well,” said Central coach Paiton Burckhard, “and that’s just a testament to their confidence.”

Ava Yeske nailed back-to-back 3-pointers in the first few minutes of the game and the Golden Eagles never looked back.

“I think they really hugged down the post a lot,” Yeske said, “so it opened up the outside.”

Soon, Yeske was joined by Emma Dohrer and Lauryn Burckhard who also made three-point field goals in the opening quarter and the Golden Eagles were off and running.

“We just knew we had to move the ball quick, because their zone is pretty good,” Yeske said. “I think we did that, opened up shots on the outside.”

The Bobcats scored multiple points on curls to the basket in the opening half, but those opportunities dried up in the second half when Brookings was held without a basket for the entire third quarter.

“We knew that we just needed to lock in on 12 (Macy Even) and 22 (Logan Smidt),” Dohrer said. “We knew we needed to shut them down if we wanted to win. We knew that we had to come out and start the third quarter very strong, keep our momentum going, and just keep playing hard.”

Coach Burckhard said the players made an adjustment on defense to prevent those high-percentage chances for the Bobcats.

“I think that just came down to our determination. We talked about that stuff early on,” Coach Burckhard said. “They can’t get anything easy, you gotta jam cutters, beat ‘em to the basket. They fixed that and then they didn’t get it anymore.”

In the end, it was Central’s 24 points from beyond the 3-point arch that proved to be the major defense in the contest.

“A lot of teams focus on our posts, so we knew coming in here that they were going to be sucked in on them,” Dohrer said. “We knew that once we get the relocate kickout, we just gotta knock down those shots and that’s what we did.”

Lauryn Burckhard led Central in multiple categories. The sophomore finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a pair of steals.

Yeske finished with a dozen points, all on 3-pointers, Dohrer added 11, and Taryn Hermansen had eight points and nine rebounds.

The Golden Eagles host Sioux Falls Roosevelt in their final regular-season home game on Tuesday, but are hoping for one more chance to play at home in the postseason.

“We need to win our next games to hold the Sweet 16 game,” Yeske said.

Central, 10-7, also has a road game left at Sioux Falls Jefferson. The Golden Eagles are currently eighth in seed points, the final position which would host a postseason game.

“We want to host our Sweet 16 game,” Dohrer said, “and we know if want to do that we really need to lock in these last two games and get some wins.”

BROOKINGS (9-9): Sloan McLagen 1 0-0 3, Macy Even 3 2-3 8, Logan Smidt 1 0-0 2, Tess Burns 1 3-4 5, Lily Thompson 1 0-0 2, Clara Delbridge 1 0-0 2, Julia Burns 1 0-0 2, Tessa Connot 0 2-2 2. Totals 9-38 7-9 26.

ABERDEEN CENTRAL (10-7): Ava Yeske 4 0-0 12, Kenadi Withers 3 1-2 7, Emma Dohrer 3 2-2 11, Lauryn Burckhard 5 4-6 15, Taryn Hermansen 3 2-5 8, Julia Malsam 1 0-0 2, Ashlyn Behrends 1 0-0 2. Totals 20-41 9-15 57.

Brookings 8 13 15 26

Aberdeen Central 16 29 45 57

3-point field goals – McLagen; Yeske 4, Dohrer 3, Burckhard. Total fouls – Brookings 12; Aberdeen Central 13. Rebounds – Brookings 19 (Burns 4); Aberdeen Central 35 (Burckhard 9, Hermansen 9). Turnovers – Brookings 11; Aberdeen Central 14. Assists – Brookings 4; Aberdeen Central 15 (Withers 5, Burckhard 4). Blocked shots – Brookings 0; Aberdeen Central 2 (Burckhard 2). Steals – Brookings 3; Aberdeen Central 4 (Burckhard 2).