Both the Newton girls and boys used a strong second half to sweep the Pella Christian basketball teams last night in a doubleheader heard live on KRLS2.  The Cardinals girls won 64-51, while the boys were victorious by a final score of 66-61.

In the girls game, Pella Christian knocked down seven first half three pointers and trailed just 32-31 at intermission.  The score was knotted up a 41-41 late in the third quarter, when Newton forced several PC turnovers and turned them into easy points in an 11-0 run to take control.  The Eagles never got closer than 3 possessions down the stretch.

Chloe Morgan’s 12 points was team high for PC, and Emma Witzenberg added 11.  Allison Van Gorp was limited to only four points while facing double and triple teams all night, but collected a game best 15 rebounds.  The Eagles drop to 0-10 on the season and 0-5 in the Little Hawkeye Conference.

Pella Christian’s boys were again without leading scorer Josh Van Gorp, and fellow starter Jack Vermeer could only muster three minutes after suffering an injury Monday night.  Despite being short-handed, Pella Christian led at the end of each of the first three quarters, including 44-39 going to the fourth.

That’s when the Cardinals caught fire, out scoring Larry Hessing’s club 27-17 over the pivotal final eight minutes.

“Newton runs a lot of set plays.  And you can’t ask your players to memorize all of their actions, you just have to recognize some general actions.  They set a lot of pin screens and flare screens, and we’re supposed to be switching those so we’re not late on the shooters, but we did not do a good enough job communicating.  They hung around, and when they got the lead, they got a lot of confidence and started knocking down shot after shot after shot.”

The Cardinals made five three pointers in the fourth quarter and 11 for the game as they picked up their first conference win of the season.  Pella Christian drops to 6-3 and 2-3 in the league. Dan Jungling led the Eagles with 21 points and Keean Cadwell added 11.

Both Pella Christian teams will play Oskaloosa tomorrow night on Eagle Lane, as the doubleheader was moved up 24 hours due to the threat of winter weather on Friday.