The Little Hawkeye Conference season started out on the right foot for the Pella Basketball teams as they traveled west to take on Norwalk in the Warriors’ new home digs Friday, in a doubleheader heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

The Dutch swept Norwalk, winning the girls game 53-31 and the boys contest 59-52.

In the opener, Pella ripped off an 8-0 run to start and never trailed, building their advantage to 18 by the half. Norwalk hung tough defensively despite the deficit, but could never get their offense going the way they hoped, despite outrebounding the Dutch girls.

Pella Head Coach Blaine Forsythe was excited to see his girls bounce back from a rough Tuesday.

“This was an entire team effort. We had multiple girls step up in different roles and at different times throughout the game. We played to our defensive scout and were locked in to what we wanted to do. Our bench, on and off the court, was huge tonight and we took a step forward. We have a few things to continue to clean up in regards to turnovers and rebounding. I am extremely proud of the grit our players showed tonight.”

Tristan Gordon finished with 12 points, five rebounds, and seven steals and Aaliyah Riddick finished with 10 points off of the bench; Bailey Birmingham was the top Warriors scorer, finishing with nine.

Pella’s boys at one point built a 10-point advantage in the opening quarter against a veteran Norwalk boys team in the home squad’s first game of the season. Redek Born led a 2nd quarter charge that gave the Warriors their only lead, with the teams keeping it within two possessions for the rest of the game until the Dutch pulled away late.

Romon Hugan finished with 15 points, six rebounds, and four steals, while Luke Hardman and Trey Van Hauen each scored 14 apiece as the Dutch shot 21-of-23 from the free throw line; Norwalk’s Born and Braeden Carlson each scored 19 points a piece.

Norwalk Head Coach Aaron Pelzer felt like there was certainly an impact from Pella playing a game Tuesday and Norwalk not playing; said their heads were spinning a little bit, especially early, despite having a lot of experienced players on the floor. Pelzer added that Pella made more winning plays down the stretch, hit all their free throws and improved dramatically from the opening game against North Polk.

Norwalk returns to action Monday at Winterset, while the Dutch are back at it Tuesday at Washington.