Washington Demon basketball finally gets to play at home tonight when both teams host Pella in a doubleheader you can hear on KCII. In the girls’ game, Washington is seeking to do something they haven’t done in 13 years: start a season 3-0. Both Demon wins, including a 62-32 victory at Fairfield last time out, have been by at least 30 points. Freshman Leighton Messinger has been a blooming star with a team-high 27 points in her first two career games. Fellow freshman Adalyn Long has also scored double-figure points in both of her debut games, making two of five total players to score at least 10 points in a game for Washington. But Demons head coach Shannon Rugg tells KCII Sports he believes his team is just getting started playing great basketball.

“We can get better,” Rugg says. “The girls know it. But they just keep competing, and as long as you keep competing every single time there’s a loose ball, our girls are just flying all over the place trying to dive in and grab it. I think our effort’s going to be there every single night.”

The boys’ game sees Washington try to get back-to-back wins. The Demons responded from a double-overtime loss by winning a 71-67 shootout at Fairfield. Evan Van Der Molen and Aden and Ajay Six backed up fellow senior Ethan Patterson’s scoring prowess by all putting up 12 points or better in the road win. Head coach Collin Stark tells KCII Sports he feels his players have responded well to a difficult front end of the schedule.

“We’re going to be battle-tested by the end of this season,” Stark says. “Yes, your record helps you with seeds, but you have to play people in order to, obviously, have a good resume. I think we are definitely going to be battle-tested by the end of this season.”

The Pella girls are 2-1, while the Dutch boys are 1-1. Opening night in the Demon Den comes your way this evening on FM 106.1 KCII, with coverage of the doubleheader starting with the Washington Hy-Vee Pregame Show at 5.