Grinnell’s girls picked up their 13th straight victory over Pella, 60-54, while the Dutch boys made it 19 in a row against the Tigers with a suffocating 49-24 decision in a doubleheader heard live on the KRLS2 stream.

An early drought caused by several turnovers put Pella’s girls in catch up mode, with Grinnell eventually building a 42-34 lead after three quarters. But the Dutch clawed back, eventually tying the game on a Mia Warner three-pointer midway through the fourth. The Tigers had an answer at every turn, and salted away the victory by hitting seven of nine free throws down the stretch.

Pella coach Blaine Forsythe was happy to see his team battle back, but says that they need to play a more complete game to compete with the better teams in the Little Hawkeye Conference.

“In the second half, we kind of found that grove. Our girls figured out that we can get loose balls, we can get after rebounds and we were high pointing rebounds – a lot of things that made us proud as coaches. We hope we use these things, and we’ll use film to learn that we can do these things. But it’s that level late in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter that we need to play at for four quarters, not just for a half or for three quarters but for the entire 32 minutes.”

Kylie Tauke led the Dutch with 21 points and nine rebounds while Kennedy Van Vark scored 10. Pella is 3-2 on the season and 1-1 in the LHC.

Pella’s boys improved to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play with their victory in the nightcap. The Dutch used a 14-0 run to start the second quarter to turn a two point deficit into a 12 point lead. They also had runs of 9-0 and 8-0 to start the third and fourth quarters. Luke Hardman scored 13 points and Cam Schulte had 12 rebounds.

Up next for both Pella squads is a non-conference home doubleheader Tuesday night against Fairfield.