Both games in Indianola came down to the wire Friday night, as the Lady Dutch edged the Indians 54-52 and the Pella boys offense went cold against Indianola in a 77-72 overtime loss, both heard live on 92.1 KRLS and 94.3 KNIA.
The girls contest was about overcoming miscues and errors as neither team was particularly sharp in a contest that featured 16 ties or lead changes, but also 52 combined turnovers and over 45 combined fouls.
Pella hit free throws down the stretch to give them a two point advantage, and a Lauren Blake three-point attempt at the buzzer to win it just missed. Pella Head Coach Jerod Garland says while it was far from perfect, he was excited with how the Lady Dutch gutted out the win despite several Indianola opportunities to do the same.
Pella was paced by 17 points and three steals from Faith Diers, 15 points from Madison Naig, and 12 points and six rebounds from Jasmine Namminga.
Despite a flurry of offense for the Little Dutch, scoring 35 points in the first 12 minutes of regulation, the Pella offense struggled against intense defense from Indianola, giving up an 18-5 run into halftime and only making 10 field goals in the second half.
The second half was back and forth with neither team gaining an advantage, but missed free throws down the stretch as the Indians had a late lead allowed Pella to come back and force the extra time. Pella was able to overcome a five point deficit with less than 30 seconds remaining after Logan Shetterly poured in five free throws, but Pella only scored two points in overtime to fall to the Indians. The Indians in overtime hit their free throws, with Tyce Johnson going a perfect 4-4 in the extra period to seal the game. Indianola Head Coach Brett Watson tells KNIA Sports the Indians have improved leaps and bounds to start the season, and this win is their hard work paying off.
“I don’t want to change the narrative for this team, we are going to keep trusting the process. We are finding out that when we start to rebound better, when we take care of the basketball better, things happen for us. We’ve done a better job now than from the first week, and we just have to keep building on those areas. The bottom line with this group is they are so fun to coach because they just play so hard, they play so hard and you know that night in and night out if you play like that you at least have a fighter’s chance.”
Johnson led the way for Indianola in scoring with 27, while freshman Drew Kingery had a breakout game offensively with 14. Shetterly finished with 34 points, and Treyton Sturgeon added 20 points and 10 rebounds, but Pella was only 5-of-23 from beyond the arc.
Both Indians squads are now 2-2 and will next play in separate games Tuesday, with the boys hosting Bondurant-Farrar and the girls traveling to Des Moines North.
The Lady Dutch improve to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in Little Hawkeye Conference play, while the Pella boys drop to 2-2 and are winless in two league overtime games. Both travel to Fairfield on Tuesday, which can be heard live on 92.1 KRLS.