Pella took both ends of a Little Hawkeye Conference basketball doubleheader against Indianola last night at Pella High School, with the 13th-ranked girls winning 65-57 and the number nine boys pulling away for an 86-52 blowout victory. The twinbill was broadcast on both 92.1 KRLS and 94.3 KNIA.
The girls game was close throughout, but the Dutch led most of the way. It was 12-11 Pella at the end of the first quarter before the Indians scored the first two buckets of the second quarter to take the lead. The Dutch responded with a nine-nothing run to take the lead and never trailed again.
It was 30-22 Pella at the half, but Indianola started and ended the third quarter with six-zero spurts to keep it a three point game. They cut it to one early in the fourth, and missed a layup with a minute to go that would have made it a two point game before the the Dutch put it away.
The Indians’ Madison Grover led all scores with 22 points and Lauren Olson (12) and Alexa Guyer (10) were also in double figures. Head coach Jeff Janssen said after the game Indianola was as agressive as he has seen going to the rim this season, and sophomore Madi Grover was a big part of that.
“She was scoring inside, outside, made most of her free throws. I’m really happy for her, really proud of her. And she didn’t let Pella be overly physical with her, but instead was really physical herself.”
Indianola drops to 6-14 on the season and 5-6 in the LHC.
Pella also put three players in double figures. Emma Walkup scored 17, Kamryn Long added 16 and Jenna Oltman chipped in 11 points and a game high seven rebounds as the Dutch improve to 15-6 and 8-3, good for third place in the conference.
Pella’s boys keep rolling, now having won 11 of their last 12, and again in dominating fashion. The Dutch hit 16 three-pointers in the game and scored 20 or more points in every quarter as they never trailed.
The large lead allowed Pella to empty the bench on Senior Night and Brayden Traetow was overjoyed to see his teammates have so much success.
“I’m so happy for my fellow seniors who got to get in. They support us on the bench all year and they’re great teammates to have in the locker room and on the floor. I’m just so excited that they got into the game and that we were able to provide that opportunity for them. I’m so happy for them.”
It was the under-classmen who led the way for Pella, with sophomore Griffin Simpson topping the scoring charts with 19 points. He drilled five three-pointers, including two in a five-second span to finish the first half. Juniors Austin Schulte (16), Jack McGuire (16) and Harrison Mullens (10) were also in double figures as the Dutch improve to 15-5 and 9-2 in the LHC.
Indianola got 15 points from George Blake and 10 from Easton McGraw as they fall to 4-13 and 4-7.
The Indians will wrap up conference play tomorrow night at Pella Christian, while the Dutch will travel to Grimes on Friday night for a doubleheader against DCG.