Pella High basketball lost two games last night they had in their grasp in the late going. The girls’ teams were playing in a preview of next Wednesday’s opening round regional tournament match-up, and it was Pella who had the upper hand for the first half and most of the third quarter. The Lady Dutch led by ten with around three minutes to go in the third, when Norwalk went on a 12 – 0 run to take a two point lead into the fourth quarter and wouldn’t look back, dealing Pella a 47 – 43 loss. Mackenzie Gustafson led the way with ten points, while Sheldon Rozenburg had an all-around good game with six points and eight boards. The loss drops the Lady Dutch to 8 – 12 on the year. The boys’ game was almost not as close. The Little Dutch fell into a 12-point hole with 4:45 to go in the final frame, before Pella tied the game on a clutch three by Isaac Naaktgeboren who was fed by Nathan Clayberg after a big offensive rebound. Unfortunately for Pella, the Warriors were able to find Carson Miller with 1.5 seconds left who made a lay-up and was fouled to secure the 55 – 52 win for Norwalk. Coach Mark Core said that despite the loss, his guys did down the stretch exactly what they do in practices when they try to simulate these exact situations. Core went on to say that it would have been nice to get a win to reinforce the point, but it’s a good building block for this team for the remainder of the season. Jordan Pingel finished with 19 points and Isaac Naaktgeboren dumped in 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Pella falls to 12 – 7 on the year, and both Dutch teams head back home to play Newton on Friday.