Pella led for all 64 minutes of the Red Rock Rivalry basketball twinbill last night against Knoxville, with the girls winning 80-6 and the boys triumphing 81-54 as heard live on both 92.1 KRLS and 95.3 KNIA.

The 14th-ranked Dutch girls opened with a 10-0 run and never looked back as all 15 players who saw the court scored, led by a career high 15 points from Ella Tousey. Pella improves to 5-3 on the season while Knoxville drops to 0-8.

The boys game was a Top 10 showdown, with number five Pella controlling the game from the start to hand the ninth-ranked Panthers their first loss of the season. Austin Schulte and Harrison Mullens each scored nine points in the first quarter as the Dutch bolted out a 26-8 lead, led by 22 at the half and pulled away from there.

“We came out with great energy and focus defensively”, said Pella head coach Derek Schulte. “We made them take challenging shots, they’re really good shot makers and so we knew we had to be really on point on that end. I thought offensively we really attacked the rim early and attacked the paint. When you can have balance like we did tonight with four guys in double figures, everybody just continues to play to their strengths and help our team in their role.”

Mullens finished with 18 points and Schulte added a 16-point 11-rebound double-double as Pella stretches its record to 7-1. Knoxville got 18 points from Lincoln Norris and 10 from Drake Larson, who left in the second half with an ankle injury. It’s the Panthers first regular season loss in nearly 23 months as they drop to 6-1.

Pella has a quick turnaround with a Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader tonight at home against Oskaloosa that you can hear live on the KRLS2 stream and watch on Pella Dutch Live. Knoxville is off until Friday’s home SCC twinbill against Albia.