It was a night of upsets at Pella High School as the basketball teams split with a pair of Des Moines Christian teams, as heard on 92.1 KRLS Tuesday night.

The Lady Dutch finally found a signature victory with a 48-46 thriller with No. 2 in 3A Des Moines Christian, while the No. 1 in 3A Pella boys were stunned by the No. 7 in Lions 77-71.

It was nearly a wire-to-wire lead for the Lady Dutch after overcoming an early first quarter deficit en route to a 19-9 first quarter. But the road team Lions chipped away at the advantage over the course of the next two frames, and took advantage of eight Pella turnovers to get a late lead by two in the 4th. However, Madison Naig tied it with 1:45 at 46-all shortly following a Lions throwaway.

A critical juncture came with 30 seconds remaining, after a DMC miss was rebounded by the Lions, and what looked to be an easy putback was denied by Kylie Tauke, whose blocked shot was rebounded by the Lady Dutch with 17 seconds left.

With five seconds left, Faith Diers found an opening in the center of the lane, and poured in a runner for the winning basket, giving Pella a win over a ranked opponent for the first time this season.

“So at the end of the game, I have to do everything I can,” Diers says. “We wanted this game so bad, it’s all tied up and I just remember getting the pass and there is two seconds left–I’ve just got to drive in. I knew I had the girl beat, but the two other girls were there on defense, so I was just like, ‘nice and easy on the shot, got to use the backboard, and it’s going in,’ I had confidence in myself.”

Final@ladydutchhoops 48
No. 2 in 3A Des Moines Christian 46#iahsgbb@MadisonNaig finishes with 21 pts, game winner for @faithdiers with 2 seconds remaining

Pella is 7-6 and at Indianola Friday (KRLS2) pic.twitter.com/UZNgU2PCF2

— Andrew Schneider, Jr (@xzono) January 20, 2021

Naig led Pella with 21 points and Diers scored all six of her points in the 4th quarter. Pella improves to 7-6 and returns to the Little Hawkeye competition at Indianola Friday.

Des Moines Christian charged to a 14-5 lead in the first four minutes of play of the boys ranked nightcap. But Pella’s offense made a massive charge over the next 16 and 1/2 minutes, out-scoring the Lions 51-26 through 3:29 remaining in the 3rd quarter, capped by a Parker Elder dunk.

In the face of an 18-point deficit–Des Moines Christian didn’t waver, as they quickly got back to within 10 by the end of the 3rd quarter, and finished the final 11 and a half minutes on a 39-15 run over the Dutch, who lost control on offense and lost the defensive edge that had previously had them at the brink of a blowout win.

The Pella boys lost their first game of the 2020-21 season, and will take their 10-1 record on the road to Indianola this Friday when they resume Little Hawkeye Conference competition.