In a battle for Little Hawkeye Conference positioning the Pella Christian basketball teams traveled to Norwalk last night and came away with a split.

In the girls’ game heard live on 92.1 KRLS the Eagles got off to a quick start scoring the game’s first 18 points to cruise to a 43-27 win. Pella Christian led 26-10 in the first half and head coach Brad Engbers tells KRLS Sports the intensity on defense was terrific. “We had quick hands tonight defensively. We were filling up the passing lanes and Norwalk was trying to feed it inside but we were able to jump in front of them.” Emma Huisman paced the Eagles with 14 points while Isabella Baugh and Allison Van Gorp chipped in with nine a piece. The Eagles improve to 3-3 on the season.

The boys’ contest was an absolute thriller from start to finish but the Eagles could not upend defending class 3A state participant Norwalk 65-61. The game featured many lead changes with the Warriors holding a slight 35-32 lead at half when both teams went off from behind the arc in the final two quarters. Head Coach Larry Hessing says while it wasn’t the outcome they hoped, the game was a joy to be apart of. “That was a really good high school basketball game. It was played at a high level for this early in the season. Both teams played well, it was just really good all around.” Bowen Born was an Eagle killer with 37 points for Norwalk including six threes. Dan Jungling led Pella Christian with 12 points on four shots from long range. The Eagles drop to 3-2 on the year.

Both teams are off until Friday when they host Indianola.