A run of fifteen unanswered points between the first and second quarters helped the Pella Christian girls basketball team jump out to a quick lead and hold it for good as the Lady Eagles defeated Knoxville 68-38 last night in Little Hawkeye Conference play.  Pella Christian’s full-court pressure defense forced Knoxville into numerous turnovers, but Head Coach Kevin Van Maanen said it was the output that Pella Christian got from its post players that made all the difference.

“I thought that our post play [was great]; especially Renae De Bruin.  I thought she had a huge game for us.  She had 18 points and just did an excellent job.  Everything was under control by her tonight,” said Van Maanen.  

“All of our post players [played well].  Paige Zylstra, I thought in the third quarter, really stepped up for us, and then [Miranda] Spurgeon came in there and did a great job – as did Sami Veenstra.  Looking at my score sheet, they had 43 of our 68 points, my posts.  That’s something we’ve been working on is getting all of our post players active inside.”

Meanwhile Knoxville’s Jim Utiermarkt said not just turnovers and an ineffective inside game…but numerous things must improve.

Renae De Bruin’s 18 points on offense was complimented by eight rebounds, while fellow post player Paige Zylstra added 17 points and an impressive seven offensive rebounds.  Jasmin Schelhaas also scored in double figures for Pella Christian with 11 points. Alex Abens paced Knoxville with 16 points.  

With the victory, Pella Christian is off to a 1-0 start in Little Hawkeye Conference play and carry a 3-1 overall mark into Friday’s LHC match-up at Grinnell. Knoxville falls to 1-4 and 0-2 in conference play.

Tags: , , , , , ,