Finally getting to play their Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader against Dallas Center-Grimes Monday night, the Pella Christian basketball teams were swept in the twin bill heard live on the KRLS2 stream at KNIAKRLS.com on Monday. After the doubleheader was postponed from January 9th and 18th, the Eagle girls fell in the opening game 66-35 and the Pella Christian boys dropped the nightcap 62-54.
Offense was hard to come by early on in the contest for the Pella Christian girls, as the Class 4A #1 ranked Mustangs held them to just 12 first half points. DCG held a 20-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, and stretched the advantage 44-12 at the break. The Eagles found more success after halftime, outscoring the Mustangs 23-22 in the final 16 minutes, but ultimately fell to 5-10 overall and 2-6 in the conference. Rachel Kacmarynski was the lone Pella Christian player to score in double figures, recording 12 points.
The Eagle boys dug themselves an early hole, falling behind 19-14 after the first quarter and then 37-25 at halftime. Pella Christian started to chip away at the deficit in the third quarter, pulling within 46-41 at the 1:31 mark of the period, but DCG went on a 5-0 run to stretch the advantage back to 10 heading into the final eight minutes. The Eagles continued to hang around, getting as close as 55-51 midway through the fourth quarter, but struggled to convert on key possessions down the stretch as they fell to 9-4 overall and 5-3 in the league. Pella Christian head coach JD Boer said that he was disappointed with the way his team started the game.
“You know, we’re too good of a team to allow another team to come in here and lay out the terms of the way that that game is going to be played. So, I was really disappointed in how we started that game. But again, DCG poses a lot of problems, the way that they can shoot the ball, their big man inside is excellent, so we just didn’t handle some of that stuff very well. ”
The Eagles basketball teams are now off until Friday, when they host Grand View Christian for homecoming.