The home teams came out on top in both ends of the first Tulip City rivalry showdown of 2022 on the basketball court last night in a doubleheader heard live on 92.1 KRLS. The 13th-ranked in 4A Pella girls beat Pella Christian 54-28, while the #3 in 3A Dutch boys beat the 6th-ranked in 2A Eagles 59-52.
It was an electric atmosphere in the Pella High School gymnasium, with a capacity crowd on hand by the time the boys game tipped off. The two teams were tied at 14 at the end of the first quarter, before a second period run gave the Dutch a 30-23 lead at intermission. P.C. burst out of the gates in the third quarter to eventually take the lead, and the game was tied at 44 early in the fourth.
That’s when Pella went on a decisive 9-0 run, including a pair of Noah Allen three-pointers and an Eagle turnover that led to a Parker Elder dunk. Allen finished with 28 points in the game and earned the praise of Dutch head coach Derek Schulte afterwards.
“He scored in multiple levels. He shot it well from three, with seven threes tonight, but he also had an opportunity to finish at the rim a couple of times. That’s tough with their length and those baskets that we can get in the paint are crucial for us. Credit our guys, because multiple guys were willing to make the extra pass when Noah was open and get him looks and find the hot hand.”
Pella Christian coach JD Boer was disappointed to see his team lose another game against a league title contender that they had a chance to win in the fourth quarter. He says that when you’re playing some of the best teams in the state, there’s little margin for error.
“You look back at this game and you’ll see that there were about two plays in there, and they happened in back-to-back plays. Pella was able to capitalize and get a little bit of a lead, and those are the moments because it’s hard when you get down five against a good team that knows how to handle that situation really well.”
In addition to Allen’s career high 28 points, Elder scored 10 for the Dutch. Levi Schelhaas paced the Eagles with 14 points and Eric Mulder added nine points and a game high 11 rebounds. Pella improves to 10-2 overall and their 6-1 record puts them in a tie for first in the Little Hawkeye Conference at the halfway point of the league schedule. P.C. is 9-3 and 4-3.
Earlier in the evening in the girls game, Pella used two big runs earn the victory. A 15-2 run in the late stages of the first quarter broke open a 5-5 game, and after the Eagles clawed within seven in the third quarter, a 10-0 Dutch surge put the game away.
Anna Vander Waal scored 16 to the lead the way for Pella, who improves to 8-4 and 4-3 in the LHC. Joslyn Terpstra’s 14 points was team high for P.C., as they drop to 2-11 and 0-7.
Pella is back in action with a non-conference road trip to Des Moines Christian Tuesday night, then both teams return to Little Hawkeye Conference play next Friday, with Pella hosting Indianola and Pella Christian entertaining Norwalk.