Pella Christian and Indianola split their Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader Tuesday evening at Indianola High School, with the Indians girls winning 68-43 and the Eagles boys coming out on top 74-57.
The Indians and Eagles girls showed fireworks in the first quarter, with the Indians leading 19-16 after the first, but both offenses slowed to a crawl in the second with the Indians up top at the halftime break 28-21. Indianola ramped up the pressure and outside shooting in the third quarter, hitting five three-point shots and putting the game away to lead 51-32 at the end of the frame before cruising to a victory. Indians head coach Jeff Janssen said it wasn’t the ideal situation to be in going into a game, but his team came through with energy in the second half.
“We wanted to start the way we did in the third quarter. As a whole, it was a weird game with no practice Monday coming off of a tough loss on Saturday, and I’m really happy with the second half especially to pick up the win. All credit goes to the girls for making plays and getting after it there in the second half.”
Kendall Clatt led all scorers with 21 points, while Lauren Blake had 14 for the Indians. Allison Van Gorp had 15 points and 12 rebounds to pace the Eagles
The Eagles boys fell behind 8-0 to start the game, but could not do much wrong after that, trailing 16-15 after the first, then after the teams traded blows the Eagles went on a late run to take a 33-27 advantage at the halftime break, a lead they would not relinquish again for the rest of the evening. Lucas Hol caught fire for the Eagles in the second half, dropping a trio of three-point buckets and scoring 16 of his 22 points, while Pella Christian shot 13/15 on free throws in the second half to close out the game. The Eagles had eight players score in the first half, with none more than six points, and head coach JD Boer said that is a large part of why his team is seeing so much success.
“That’s the thing about these guys, from the start it hasn’t been just one guy who’s trying to get his shots. We have guys that score more than others, Levi (Schelhaas) and Eric (Mulder) usually carry the scoring load, but they aren’t out there to get theirs. They are out there to pass the ball so when other guys get it going like Lucas did tonight, we don’t have anyone who is just out there to score, they pass the ball really well, and we are starting to execute our offense really well so that was nice to see.”
Hol led the Eagles with 22 points, and Levi Schelhaas dropped 17. Drew Kingery was the Indians top scorer with 16 points.
The Indians girls are now 13-3 overall and 8-1 in conference play, while the boys fall to 8-6 and 4-5, with both squads playing Dallas Center-Grimes on the road Friday.
The Eagles girls fall to 8-7 and 2-5, while the boys are now 8-7 and 5-4 in the Little Hawkeye Conference, and both will host Grinnell on Friday.