In a rare matchup between the top two teams in the state, the Norwalk boys basketball team showed, at least for one night, why they’re number one in a 66-65 victory over Pella.  It was the second game of a doubleheader heard live last night on KRLS2, with the Pella High girls winning the opener over the Warriors 42-34.

The Lady Dutch led 4-2 at the end of a sluggish first quarter for both teams, then coach Jerod Garland said it just came down to finally making some shots.

“In the first quarter, we didn’t put them in, then you started to see in the second half that we had some big shots.  We hit three three-pointers that were really critical, from three different players, and two of them from our posts. That was really fun to see our girls step up and hit some shots, and you know you have to to beat a team like this.”

Reagan Van Wyk was the only Pella player in double figures, scoring 10 points, while Madison Naig and Jasmine Namminga added nine and eight, respectively.  Namminga also grabbed a game high eight rebounds.

The Lady Dutch move above .500 on the season at 9-8, and are 6-4 in the Little Hawkeye Conference.

It was another heartbreaking loss for the Pella boys, who dropped two December games in overtime and now two games this week by one possession.  After battling to a 32-32 tie at halftime, Norwalk outscored the Little Dutch 21-10 in the third quarter to build a double digit lead, and while Pella clawed within one twice, including on Logan Shetterly’s half court shot at the final buzzer, they were never able to get all the way back.

Coach Derek Schulte says that their offense, which is number one in the state in scoring in class 3A, went quiet for too many stretches last night.

“We hit eight three’s in the first half, but we didn’t even attempt a free throw in the first half.  We ended up with seven attempts in the second half, so we did a little better job being aggressive there.  Some of that is we need to give Norwalk credit for playing solid defense tonight, and we had some stretches where we settled for the first available shot.  Not a bad shot, but it was the first available shot not the best available shot.”

Shetterly was Pella’s leading scorer with 26 points, and Treyton Sturgeon added 14 and a team high nine rebounds.  The Little Dutch held Bowen Born, the state’s leading scorer at more than 40 points per game, to 29, but Joe Brown scored 15 and the rest of the Warriors were more involved on the offensive end than in recent action.

Pella is 12-4 on the season and 6-4 in the LHC.  Up next for both the girls and boys is a trip to Newton on Tuesday night.