The Indianola girls and boys basketball teams came away with two wins on the road in Pella Friday evening, the boys pulling ahead late in an 83-68 win, and the girls pulling away in a close contest 57-52.
The Indians and Dutch boys both battled foul trouble throughout the first half, with neither team able to get much of an advantage with the Indians ahead 20-13 after the first and both teams lighting it up in the second quarter with Indianola leading 41-36 at the halftime break getting 18 points from Brayden Drea. The offense continued to shine in the third quarter, with the teams hitting a combined nine three-point buckets as the Indians held a slim 66-59 advantage, then picked up the effort defensively as the Dutch went cold from the field to get to the final margin. Indians head coach Jeff Ebling tells KNIA/KRLS Sports his team did a great job of answering back to every Pella run.
“The boys didn’t let it rattle them, we stayed the course and went on a run ourselves to end the third quarter. One thing I told them going into the fourth was it was going to come down to rebounding, and they did a great job of that. We are just happy to get the win and hope we can keep it rolling next week.”
Keegan Hansen paced Pella with 18 points, while Parker Elder went for 15. Drew Kingery led Indianola with 23, while Drea contributed 22.
The #13 Pella girls made 12 three-point buckets as they led for the majority of the contest over #5 Indianola, with solid perimeter defense holding the Indians to just six first quarter points leading 9-6 after the first eight minutes, then survived a late Indians run to lead 27-24 at halftime on the back of four three-pointers from Anna Childerston and seven overall. Pella continued to stay ahead for the majority of the third, before the Indianola press began to get turnovers and transition points, leading to a 40-35 Indians advantage going into the final quarter.
Indianola built a lead as high as 11 leading 50-39, but Pella stayed hot from outside, with Reagan Van Wyk hitting a pair of three’s and Anna Vander Waal scoring seven points, and got the deficit down to three at 55-52 but missed a pair of three-point shots to tie it and Emily Naughton hit free throws down the stretch to seal it. Dutch head coach Blaine Forsythe tells KNIA/KRLS Sports his senior leaders showed up and put the team in a position to succeed.
“When we were able to break their press and get it into the halfcourt we did a good job of finding open shooters and making an extra pass, and our girls made some big shots. Really good job, our seniors led the way with 11 of our 12 three’s, so a big performance from them, and I’m really proud with how they played.”
Lauren Blake led all scorers with 22, while Emily Naughton had 21, with Pella paced by 15 from Reagan Van Wyk and 13 from Vander Waal.
The Pella boys are now 10-4 and 6-2 in LHC play, while the girls are 9-5 and 4-4, with both teams hosting Norwalk on Tuesday.
The Indians boys are now 8-3 and 6-2, the girls are 11-3 and 7-1, and travel to Pella Christian on Tuesday.