The Newton boys and girls basketball teams lost conference home games to Pella Friday night, as heard on KRLS3. The Dutch boys beat the Cardinals 62-57, and the #10 Class 4A Pella girls won 75-47.

The boys game was close after the Cardinals came back from being down 29-15 at the end of the first quarter. Pella’s lead at halftime was trimmed to 38-32.  The end of the third quarter score was Pella 48 and Newton 44. The Cardinals would get as close as 53-51, but would never tie the Dutch or take the lead. Newton coach Jason Carter was proud of the team’s effort.

“ I hope our team found the level and grit we have to play at to compete in these types of games. That’s the goal at the end of the year. We want to compete with the Pellas and DCGs and teams that will make late post season runs, because that’s our goal too.”

Cade Bauer paced Newton with 14 points and Dawson Maki added 13. The Newton boys are now 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference.

The Cardinal girls trailed Pella 15-11 after the first quarter, 36-17 at the half, and 54-33 at the end of the third quarter. Newton coach Jake Bennett says Pella’s press allowed them to extend the lead and take control of the game in the second quarter.

“We really haven’t seen the press a whole lot at this point. Hopefully as we get more game reps with that we can become more consistent breaking the press.”

Alex Riney was Newton’s leading scorer with 13 points. Payton Carkhuff added nine. The Cardinal girls are 4-3 overall and 0-3 in the conference.

The Newton boys and girls basketball teams are off until Friday, January 3rd, when they host Des Moines Hoover.