It was a Little Hawkeye Conference split last night in Grimes, with the 2nd-ranked Dallas Center Grimes girls beating Pella Christian 62-23 before the Eagle boys hung on for a 68-57 victory over the defending class 3A state champions in a doubleheader heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

The Mustang girls controlled from the get-go, building a 10-2 first quarter lead and a 31-12 cushion at intermission. Josyln Terpstra scored 14 points for Pella Christian, who falls to 1-11 on the season and 0-6 in the LHC.

The P.C. boys came out blazing in the nightcap, knocking down five three-pointers and racing out a 23-9 first quarter lead, then burying six more long balls in the second stanza to take a 43-18 lead into the locker room. But DCG had an answer. They chipped the lead down to 15 at the end of the third quarter, then pulled within four in the closing minutes. Eagles coach J.D. Boer was proud of his team for staying with it and putting the game away.

“With about two minutes to go, all of a sudden everybody starts tightening up. ‘Oh no, what’s about to happen, the gym comes alive and the home team is feeling it’. I was so proud of our composure at the end. We took care of the ball, we knocked down some free throws, and finally got a couple big rebounds and stops. That’s what we needed.”

The Eagles made 10-of-11 free throws in the fourth quarter, including one on a Tysen DeVries and-one three point play with 30 seconds left to seal the victory. DeVries led Pella Christian with 20 points and Aiden Stoltz, Josiah Vos and Isaiah Breems all scored 10 as they improve to 7-3 overall and 4-2 in conference play.

Up next for both Eagle squads is a trip to Indianola on Friday night.