Pella Christian Cruises Past Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont in District Opener

Getting all 15 players on the court and putting 11 on the scoreboard, the Pella Christian boys basketball team cruised past Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 61-35 in their Class 2A Substate 5 opener heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

Despite a slow start offensively, the Eagles built up a 10-5 lead after the opening quarter before finding their rhythm. Pella Christian used a 20-7 second quarter to grow the advantage to 30-12 at halftime, then secured the win by outscoring the Rockets 31-24 in the second half. Cooper Spronk powered the offense in the victory, scoring 18 points on 9-10 shooting from the field, while Gilbert Flagel went 4-6 from the field and 4-4 at the free throw line to add 12 points. Ben Van Wyngarden and Wyatt Snyder each had six points, Deacon Branderhorst had five, Rob Schreur and Griffin Stoltz each had three, and Devan Runner, Trey Steinkamp, Ethan Van Arendonk, and Caleb Volk each had two points. 

Pella Christian improves to 9-13 overall and heads to the district quarterfinals in Bloomfield on Thursday against Davis County. 

Pella Christian Girls Bowlers Competed at State Qualifying Meet Monday

The Pella Christian girls bowling squad competed at the Class 1A State Qualifying meet hosted by Davis County at Champion Bowl in Ottumwa on Monday. As a team, the Eagle girls finished in sixth place with a score of 1641. Macy Van Der Hart led the way for the Pella Christian girls with a 3 game series of 387, followed by Sophie Guo at 334 and Bella Pu at 326. Rounding out the Eagles lineup was AnnaBelle Carter at 304, Hope Spencer at 282, and Aubrey Beyer at 206. The Pella Christian boys bowling team will take their turn competing in the State Qualifying meeting in Ottumwa today at 10 am.

Pella Christian Girls Basketball Travels to North Mahaska for Regional Quarterfinal Rematch Tonight

After dominating Colfax-Mingo in their Class 2A Region 5 opener Saturday, the Pella Christian girls basketball team travels to New Sharon tonight for a quarterfinal rematch against #5 North Mahaska.

The Eagles and Warhawks squared off in this exact postseason contest 371 days ago, and despite a big third quarter surge, Pella Christian’s season ended with a 66-54 loss. Overall, tonight’s contest will be the sixth meeting between the two schools since 2013. In the series, the Eagles hold the slight 3-2 advantage, but North Mahaska has won the two most recent contests in 2024 and 2022. Having their season come to an end at the hands of the Warhawks last year, Pella Christian senior Faith Kacmarynski says they’ve been looking forward to this rematch since the postseason brackets were released.

“While we’ve had a few games this week, North Mahaska has still been on our minds and we know our game plan. We know what we need to do to beat them, and I think we can, we have the people that can do it and we have the mentality to beat them.”

Eagles head coach Brendan Foughty adds that in order to knock off the Warhawks, his squad will need to excel on the glass and on the defensive end of the floor.

“North Mahaska is a team last year that kind of got us on the boards and got some offensive rebounds. Sydney Andersen does a great job underneath being physical, getting offensive rebounds, and so it’s going to be important that we keep her off the glass and take away their easy shots at the rim. We want to force North Mahaska to take contested threes and mid range shots and not the easy ones at the rim that we risk fouling. And they’re really good finishers around the rim, so we’ve got to be really connected defensively. They set a lot of ball screens, and we’re going to have a game plan ready for how we’re going to defend that but it’s going to take excellent communication and togetherness to get it done.”

Coverage of Pella Christian’s regional game at North Mahaska tonight can be heard live on 92.1 KRLS, beginning with pregame coverage at 6:30 pm.