The girls basketball team at Pella High will play for their first-ever state championship after edging out Marion 54-48 in an instant classic heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

Buzzer-beating shots at the end of the 2nd and 3rd quarters in the back-and-forth contest gave Pella the edge, as did clutch free throw shooting in the final frame.

Despite an early 6-0 deficit, the Lady Dutch rallied back with a 10-3 flurry at the end of the 1st, and the girls held a lead at the end of each quarter despite numerous mini-runs by the Indians.

Assistant Coach Wade Van Vark has been impressed all year with the resilience of this team.

“The word is grit,” Van Vark says. “As an educator, there’s been a lot of research done lately on why kids can keep working and keep getting after something when it isn’t maybe working right away, and the word they use is grit.”

“You saw a lot of that out of our team today.”

Junior Kiara Bradley posted a double-double, with 13 points and 12 rebounds, as well as a pair of big steals. She told KNIA/KRLS Sports after the game the way the team fought for rebounds on the defensive glass kept Marion from building too much momentum.

“We always play great defense and I think that’s what brings us back in the game,” she tells KNIA/KRLS. “Sometimes we won’t make a shot and that’s really hard, but we have to keep battling back and once we get the defensive rebound we can always go back up the floor and try and look for a better shot.”

Pella has won 21 in a row, and will take on 17-8 Mason City of the Class 5A-Heavy CIML in the Class 4A State Championship Game. Andrew Schneider and Brian Vande Lune return to their headsets for the final girls basketball game of the season, with pregame at 5:30 p.m. and opening tip at 6 p.m. on 92.1 KRLS, kniakrls.com, and the free KRLS app.