The Norwalk basketball teams hosted Pella Friday evening in the second Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader of the season, and the teams earned a split. The Pella girls came back for a 50-46 win, while the Norwalk boys prevailed 48-47. It was the first ever conference win for both winning coaches, who are in their first seasons with their respective programs.
The girls game was highlighted by several scoring runs. The Warriors led by as many as 10-4 in the first, but Pella cut it down to 1 at the end of the first. After the teams traded runs in the second, the Warriors again found themselves up by one at halftime, but that’s when the Dutch made their rally. Pella increased the lead to seven after three, and put the game away at the free throw line. Pella Head Coach Blaine Forsythe was proud of his team’s poise throughout the night.
“I’m extremely proud of the girls. Coming in, we knew this was going to be a big game and they were going to pressure us. They presented us with the two posts inside, and Bice is an extremely good player. Just really happy with the way we responded throughout the entire game. Overall, we kept responding to their runs, I’m extremely proud of the girls.”
Hailey Van Vark led the Dutch with 14 points while Kylie Tauke added 10. Norwalk was led by Ava Johnson with 18 points, while JoJo Bice had 11. Pella moves to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play. Norwalk is now 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
The boys game saw Norwalk jump out to an early lead, which they would hang onto for much of the way, building up an 18-13 lead after one. The lead grew to nine at half, but Pella got to within 39-38 at the end of three. The Dutch took their first lead in the fourth quarter, and held onto the ball for a nearly two-minute stretch late in the game while leading 47-46. With 7.1 seconds left, Norwalk had the ball with a chance to take the lead.
Sophomore Redek Born weaved through the lane for the go-ahead shot, and Pella’s ensuing inbounds pass was stolen with 2.5 seconds to play to seal the game. Norwalk Head Coach Aaron Pelzer says this was an especially meaningful win.
“I’d like to say it’s just another win, but I’ve been around Norwalk long enough to know that Pella is always the one you circle on the calendar. We’ve had some great battles over the years, our programs are two of the best in the state. This one feels awesome. I’m extremely proud of the kids. We executed our gameplan to a T. Defensively, we were excellent all night. We knew Miller and Allen were going to hit tough shots, and I thought in the first half, we had them baffled a little bit. We stuck to our gameplan. This one feels really good.”
Born led the way with 18 points while Braedon Carlson had 13. Pella was led by Karl Miller with 13 points, while Parker Elder had 11. Pella moves to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference. They return to action Tuesday at Fairfield. Norwalk is not 2-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play. They’re at Lewis Central Tuesday.