It has a been a stellar start to the season for the Aberdeen Central girls’ basketball team.

The Golden Eagles are 7-1 and yet have to lose to a team from South Dakota. Their only loss was to North Dakota’s top-rated team, Minot. Central is currently second in Class AA seed points.

The fourth-rated squad is now headed into the toughest part of its schedule starting this weekend.

“It’s just that time of the year where you’re playing a lot of basketball, and it’s kind of our road schedule of a season, so we end up a lot of Tuesdays on the road,” said Central coach Paiton Burckhard, “but it’s also a time where we’re kind of like OK, this is a test for us.”

The stretch starts off at Tea Area (6-2) on Saturday, another road game on Tuesday at defending State AA champion O’Gorman (6-1), followed up by a home date against top-rated Brandon Valley (7-0) on Saturday, Jan. 24. After a home game against Pierre, the stretch is capped off by a road game on Jan. 29 against Sioux Falls Washington (7-1).

“This will kind of show us where we’re at, what we’re capable of,” Burckhard said. “It’s a lot of good teams that we’re up against, but this is what the season is for. It’s exciting and I’m excited to see what our team can do.”

While the calendar still says mid-January, after losing at home in the SoDak 16 round in an 8-9 seed matchup last year, Burckhard talked about how important every game is because it plays into that potential postseason pairing.

“We talk a lot about how every game matters, regardless of home or away or what they’re ranked or what their win to loss record is, because you want to be in a good position in your Sweet 16 game,” Burckhard said. “You want to be at home and you want to be playing an opponent that maybe doesn’t give you as much of a run for your money to make it into that state tournament. So every single game matters for sure.”

Central is about to face the strongest opponents on its schedule. Burckhard knows that the Golden Eagles will be severely tested against the pressure defenses of the state’s elite squads, and it’s difficult to prepare for that type of intensity.

“It’s definitely hard to simulate, just because we’re talking about Brandon Valley and O’Gorman here that have really good full-court pressure,” Burckhard said. “Last year we struggled with anybody that gave us any form of full-court pressure, and this year we’ve gotten a better handle on it. And I just think we’ve kind of made the choice: we’re either going to get it done and figure it out or we’re going to struggle.”

The second-year head coach said her players have grown accustomed to facing that constant full-court pressure and are better equipped to handle it this year.

“I guess we’ll kind of see, but I definitely think we’ve gotten a lot better with handling that and not being surprised when it happens, because you know it’s coming,” she said. “It’s going to be there, so we’re going to have to figure out how to deal with it.”

Once Central breaks the press the Golden Eagles have an effective and efficient half-court offense that has shown it can cause problems for anybody. The biggest key is not only handling the basketball and limiting turnovers, but also controlling the tempo in games.

“We talk a lot about the pace of play, actually, and just controlling the games ourselves. Obviously, full-court pressures are meant to speed you up and get you going fast, but that is not when we’re successful,” Burckhard said. “So a lot of confidence, a lot of talk about more than one person can handle the ball up the floor, and equaling that pressure out, and then just ultimately understanding that we have what it takes to beat good teams when we play our game.”

Burckhard said the players are focusing on dealing with their present situation, not what has happened in the past, nor what might come in the future.

“We talk a lot about being where your feet are,” Burckhard said. “You can only be here. You can’t go in the past, you can’t go forward, which will be huge for us.”

While the Golden Eagles currently have the second highest seed points in AA, Burckhard knows those rankings are fluid and she doesn’t get too concerned about them at this point in the season. She also understands that while the team has accomplished a lot so far, the biggest games and goals lie ahead.

“We’re satisfied in the moment,” Burckhard said. “We cheer about it, but then we’re on to the next. We’re never satisfied.”

There is still plenty of basketball to be played this season. Burckhard likes the progress her team has made since the campaign started, and has seen noticeable improvement.

“I just think fundamentally we’ve gotten a lot more sound, and just the concepts that we continue to bring up to the girls, like playing team defense, and just those fundamentals, and just being out there and executing what we want to get done,” Burckhard said.

She noted that it can be a lot to process for teenagers as they navigate through the season.

“I’m really proud of the girls for using their basketball IQ and their basketball knowledge to get things done,” Burckhard said, “and that’s why you’ve seen a lot of success from us so far.”