Photo courtesy of Troy L. Hugen Photography

The Pella Christian basketball teams wrapped up competition for 2023 Thursday night, sweeping  Newton in a Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

Stifling defense and a career night from sophomore Addie Van Arendonk propelled the Eagle girls to a 51-48 win over the Cardinals in the opening game of the twinbill. Pella Christian forced Newton to commit 17 first half turnovers as they built up a 22-16 lead at halftime. The Eagles started to pull away in the third quarter, building the lead to as much as 12, but the Cardinals battled back to pull within one late in the fourth quarter. Despite missing multiple late game free throws, Pella Christian’ defense and rebounding came through in the big moments to sneak out the three point victory. Van Arendonk poured in a career high 18 points to lead all scorers in the game, while Rachel Kacmarynski added 11 points in the win. Having battled through some illness this week, head coach Brendan Foughty said that he was proud of how his team handled the adversity.

“I’m really just proud of our kids for finding a way to grit through a really tough week, play an ugly basketball game where to be honest with you, we had a late lead and we kind of lost our composure a little bit in the fourth quarter, but found a way to win and that’s what this team has to do is find ways to win.”

In the nightcap of the doubleheader, the Eagle boys had nine players record points in a 69-48 win to complete the sweep against Newton. Pella Christian led 16-12 after the opening quarter, and extended the lead to 36-23 at halftime, as Josiah Vos banked in a buzzer beating three entering the intermission. Newton trimmed the deficit to 46-34 heading into the final quarter, but the Eagles blew the game open in the fourth, outscoring the Cardinals 23-14 to cruise to the 21-point victory. Dane Geetings was the lone Eagle to reach double figures with 22 points, while Isaiah Breems recorded nine points in the win.

The Pella Christian girls improved to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in the conference, while the boys improved to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the league. Both teams are off until after Christmas break, returning to action with another conference doubleheader at Pella on Friday, January 5th.