Pleasantville’s basketball teams were hoping to come away from Leon with a sweep against Central Decatur last night, but had to settle for a split with the Cardinals for the second time this season, as the girls fell 63-26 and the boys claimed a 65-38 win in a pair of games streamed live at kniakrls.com.

The Pleasantville girls started slowly, as Central Decatur outscored the Trojans 15-5 in the opening quarter. That setback proved to be too much to overcome, as Trojans’ head coach Trevor Miller said his team simply turned the ball over too many times.

Pleasantville’s leading scorers – Kennedy Core and Maddie Harken – were held to just six points apiece; while the Cardinals had five players score seven points or more. The loss drops the Pleasantville girls to 1-8 overall and 1-5 in the Pride of Iowa Conference.

In the boys contest, Pleasantville opened up with a steal and ensuing dunk by Hunter Van Haalen, and never looked back, as they steadily grew a solid lead into the 65-38 victory. Eight players scored for the Trojans, led by Van Haalen’s 16 points and another 15 from Dylan Lauer – which included eight unanswered points in the third quarter.

The win has the Pleasantville boys basketball team off to an 8-0 start, including six wins in the Pride of Iowa Conference.