Pella put a pair of double-digit beat downs on A-D-M as the Lady Dutch and Little Dutch returned from the holiday break in emphatic fashion last night in a basketball doubleheader heard live on 92.1 KRLS.
The #1 Pella girls won 69-26, while the #3 Pella boys were victorious 85-60.
The Lady Dutch jumped out to a 26-10 lead after the first quarter and led 45-12 at halftime. Coach Jared Garland says that there certainly wasn’t any rust after a long holiday layoff.
“You always wonder about that first game back out of break. We did have good practices, so we were happy about that, and we had a really nice scrimmage at Grinnell on Saturday. We got to see some teams that we don’t usually see and that went well, so we felt pretty good coming into this one about where we were at. I think the first half was a good show of that and I’m really happy with that.”
Emily Holterhaus led Pella with 15 points and 13 rebounds and Chloe Van Vliet scored 13 off the bench. Annika Pingel chipped in 10 points, while Kiara Bradley and Ciara Buchheit each added 7 rebounds.
Bradley drew the defensive assignment for most of the night on A-D-M’s Sydney Bertman, who came in averaging a double-double on the season. Bradley shut her out and limited her to just two rebounds.
Pella is 7-0 on the season.
The boys game was close for the first 12 minutes, with the lead changing hands several times and neither team holding more than a one possession advantage. But the Little Dutch broke free midway through the second quarter and built a 42-30 halftime advantage en route to the 25-point win.
Junior Landon Vander Leest found out two minutes before the game that he was going to get his first start of the season, and he responded with a 15-point effort – one of four Pella players to score in double figures. He told KNIA/KRLS Sports afterwards that he tried to treat it like any other game he’s been in.
“I kind of go into the game with the same mindset overall. I want to go in there and do everything I can – try to play some good defensive, contribute on the offensive end and work the ball around. To me, it’s not a huge deal either way.”
Ryan Van Wyk led the Little Dutch attack with 23 points, Donovan Holterhaus racked up a 21-point 10-rebound double-double despite missing significant minutes with foul trouble, and Nick Finney added 12 points. Pella had a whopping 50-23 rebounding advantage as a team.
The Little Dutch are now 6-1.
Both Pella teams will be in action on Friday night at Newton as they return to Little Hawkeye Conference play against the Cardinals.