Little Hawkeye Conference positioning was on the line Friday night in Oskaloosa, as the Pella Christian basketball teams traveled to face the Indians and came away with a split.

The Eagle girls got off to a slow start with the 2-9 Indians leading just 10-7 at the end of the first before full court pressure began to bother Oskaloosa. The Eagle lead grew to 21-13 at half and an eventual 50-39 win. Head coach Brad Engbers tells KRLS Sports it was a minor adjustment that started to make the press effective, something that was not in the first eight minutes.

“We backed off on the press a little bit, let them get to half court, and then attacked. That was a big difference maker for us and we started to turn them over at a better rate.”

Emma Huisman had three triples to finish with 15 points and Chloe Morgan added 13. The Eagles improve to 7-6 on the season.

The boys had a tall task against the 9-2 Indians featuring 7’0’’ Xavier Foster and 6’10’’ Cole Henry. The Eagles stuck around for a while trailing just 29-24 at the break thanks to a late second quarter run. In the second half Henry started to take the game over to finish with 21 points and Pella Christian went cold from the field to result in a 67-44 loss. Jake Pringle led the team with 11 points. The Eagles fall to 6-5.

Both squads have a quick turnaround tonight welcoming Des Moines Christian to Eagle Lane.

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