Avenging their losses back in January, the Pella Christian basketball teams earned double-digit victories to sweep Newton in a Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader heard live on the KRLS2 stream on Tuesday night. The Eagle girls won a defensive battle 35-21, while the boys defeated the Cardinals 62-45.

Scoring was hard to come by in the opening game of the twin bill, as the Pella Christian girls built up a narrow 13-5 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Eagles extended their edge to 19-9 at halftime, but Newton battled back to cut the advantage to 25-18 at the end of the third period. The fourth quarter was all Pella Christian, as they outscored the Cardinals 11-3 to pull away for the 15-point win. In addition to holding Newton to just 21 points, the Eagles limited the Cardinals to just 12% shooting from the field while forcing 17 turnovers. Brynn Runner was the lone player for either team to reach double-figures in scoring, leading Pella Christian with 11 points in the win. In addition to improving to 7-11 overall and 1-8 in conference play, Eagles senior Faith Kacmarynski surpassed 300 career assists, becoming just the second player in program history to pass that mark.

In the boys game, Pella Christian fell behind 11-6 two and a half minutes into the game, but responded with a 16-0 run to end the first quarter to grab a 22-11 lead. The Eagles advantage dipped to 33-23 at halftime, but an 11-5 third quarter pushed PC’s edge back up to 44-28 at the end of the third quarter, and Pella Christian held off Newton the rest of the way to secure the 17-point win. Deacon Branderhorst led the way for the Eagles in the victory with 16 points, while Gilbert Flagel and Cooper Spronk each contributed 14 points. With the win, the Pella Christian boys improved to 8-10 overall and 2-7 in Little Hawkeye Conference play.

The Eagles basketball teams return to the court on Friday night, making the cross-town trip to Pella for the second edition of the Tulip City Showdown against the Dutch.