The Indianola Basketball teams swept Pella Christian Friday night in a Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader with the girls winning 42-28 and the boys winning 71-49 as heard live on 94.3 KNIA. 

Both teams started out the game cold from the field, as both teams were playing a 2-3 zone defense resulting in a lot of outside shooting early on. However, Pella Christian’s Ava Breems had four first quarter points to lead the Eagles. Indianola’s Eden Whitson drew contact down low and went a perfect 4/4 from the free throw line in the first quarter. After one, Pella Christian led 10-9. 

The second quarter was just as gritty as the first quarter. Indianola senior Lauren Olson was able to create space by knocking down three shots in the quarter including a three-pointer to give her seven points at the half. Meanwhile, the Eagles hit four shots of their own and the script had flipped and the Indians were up 18-17 at halftime. 

In the third quarter, the tenacious Indianola defense along with the three-point shooting lifted Indianola to their first double digit lead of the game by the middle of the quarter but an Eagle run cut the Indian lead back to seven. Freshman Julia McGraw hit two threes and another one from Alexa Guyer gave Indianola a 31-24 lead after the third quarter. 

Indianola found it much easier to get to the basket in the fourth quarter as they captured 11 points in the frame compared to Pella Christian’s three and improved to 8-4 while Pella Christian dropped to 7-7. 

In the boys game, it was a hard nosed physical game from start to finish. It was a defensive show at the beginning as both teams were struggling to find decent shot selections. A Trey Steinkamp three lifted Pella Christian to a 7-6 lead after the first quarter. 

In the second quarter, Indianola’s three-point shooting warmed up highlighted by a pair of triples from Jackson Faust. On the Eagle side, Gilbert Flagel had a knack of getting to the free throw line to keep Pella Christian within shouting distance as it was 29-21 Indians at the half. 

Indianola hit the ground running in the third quarter as George Blake and Bryant Richie both had a pair of field goals. The game got to 44-44 late in the third and after that the Indians closed out the game on a 27-5 run to win the game. Indianola improved to 6-4 while Pella Christian dropped to 7-5. 

Up next for the Indianola Girls is a trip to Bondurant-Farrar on Monday while the boys don’t play until January 23rd with a road game at Newton