The Indianola girls and boys basketball teams were on the wrong side of buzzer-beating shots as they were swept by Pella on Tuesday evening in a doubleheader heard live on 94.3 KNIA, while the boys swimming squad dominated Des Moines East in the pool.
The girls basketball team played well to start against the #9 in class 4A Dutch with efficient offense, but still found themselves down 19-14 after the first and 31-23 at the halftime break. Indianola fought back throughout the third quarter to trail 41-36 going into the final eight minutes, and in the fourth quarter would hold Pella to just five total points as they took a 45-44 lead with under a minute to go. Pella would hit a layup to go ahead, and Indianola would have the ball underneath their own basket with just 3.6 seconds, and a potential game-winner from Madi Grover rimmed in and out as the Indians fell 46-45. Head coach Jeff Janssen said after the game the team is never happy with a loss, but they gained so much confidence with the way they played and can hold their heads high moving forward.
“We don’t want to go back. We don’t want to go back to being passive or lacking confidence on either side of the ball. So I’m expecting two solid days of practice the next two days, making sure we have a great time at our team dinner with the varsity boys tomorrow, and really preparing to the best of our abilities for a great Friday night in January in the Little Hawkeye Conference at home.”
Dana Blake and Lauren Olson each scored 13 to lead the team.
The Indians boys had an early lead against the Dutch as Easton McGraw scored 10 first quarter points and hit an early three-pointer to put Indianola up 21-12 early in the second quarter, but Pella answered with a 22-8 run that included a total of nine three-pointers in the first half to lead 34-29 at halftime. Pella grew their lead to double digits in the third quarter before the Indians answered with a run to trail 47-43 going into the final eight minutes. The Indians trailed by two with under a minute to go when Hayden Schulte hit a layup to tie the score, and Pella missed a game-winner to force overtime. The two teams battled in the extra period, with Andrew DeWall scoring late to tie the score, but Pella would hit the game winning three-pointer to seal the victory 69-66.
McGraw led the Indians with 19 points, and DeWall scored 16.
The girls are now 3-9 overall and 2-3 in Little Hawkeye Conference play, while the boys are 2-7 and 2-3. Both teams will host Pella Christian on Friday.
The Indianola boys swimming team had 15 first place finishers hosting the Scarlets of Des Moines East at the Indianola Wellness Campus. Some top finishers for the Indians included the Nate Gondek in the 200 Freestyle, Alaka’i Moore in the 200 Individual Medley, Isaiah Picard in the 200 Para Freestyle and 100 Para Breaststroke, Ethan Russell in the 50 and 100 Freestyle, Ryan Torrence in the 500 Freestyle, Gavin Doss in the 100 Backstroke, Sawyer Massey in the 100 Breaststroke, and the 200 Medley, 200 Freestyle, and 400 Freestyle Relay teams. The Indians will next hit the pool next Thursday. Find full results below.