Pressure defense gave the Eagles basketball teams plenty of extra scoring chances to pull away in a pair of blowout victories, with the Pella Christian girls winning 51-23 and the boys 82-44 over Albia in the first doubleheader of the new season Tuesday, heard live on the KRLS2 stream.

The Eagles girls frustrated the Lady Dees but couldn’t get the scoring started until the 2nd quarter after eight ties or lead changes in the first eight minutes. P.C. was down 9-7 but ripped off an 18-0 stretch and outscored Albia 22-4 before the halftime break. Joslyn Terpstra scored 16 points and tallied eight steals, while Faith Kacmarynski matched her junior teammate with 16 points. The Eagles ended up with 17 total steals.

Pella Christian opened a highly anticipated boys basketball season at the home of an Albia team that book-ended last winter with losses for the Eagles. But it was the boys from Eagle Lane who took control of this contest, forcing the Blue Demons into 19 first-half turnovers. Six total dunks and a run of three-pointers in the 2nd quarter pulled P.C. ahead by a 48-23 margin before the break.

Senior Danny Andringa was excited with the scoring depth shown early and the amount of options that are available on the court on any given possession. There were four Eagles who finished in double-figures in points, including Jadeon Huisman (14), Eric Mulder (12), Aiden Stoltz (12), and Levi Schelhaas (11).

The Eagles girls improve to 1-1 and the boys start the winter season at 1-0, and both begin Little Hawkeye Conference action Friday at Norwalk.