Three days removed from their first boys’ varsity loss since the semifinals of the Class 3A state baseball tournament, Pella High basketball will try to make a triumphant return to Little Hawkeye Conference play against Norwalk. The Little Dutch dropped a 68 – 57 contest to West Des Moines Valley in a game where they allowed 17 offensive rebounds and many second-chance points. While that has been a concern for Coach Mark Core, he says his Little Dutch will need to stick to their bread and butter to try and handle the Warriors.

“I would say this is a very typical Norwalk team and their offense revolves around the post players,” Core says. “They’re going to get a lot of post touches, and they also surround their post players with some guys that can shoot. We’re just going to have to do a good job defensively executing, and trying to keep the ball out of the hands of the post players so we don’t get caught in too many recovery situations as the game goes on.”

The Norwalk boys defeated Pella Christian on Tuesday, 62 – 59 in overtime to improve to 7 – 1. In the girls’ game, Pella High will be playing in their first contest of 2016, and appear to have a favorable match-up against a Norwalk team that needed a last-second, bank-in three-pointer to beat the Eagles, 43 – 42. It’s the third consecutive game Norwalk has played that’s been decided by one point. Tonight’s girl-boy doubleheader will be live on 92.1 KRLS, KNIAKRLS.com, and via our free mobile app. Cory Houser, Brian Vande Lune, and Brad Terpstra will control the play-by-play with pre-game starting at 6:00.