The Pella Little Dutch find themselves back in the substate round for the third straight time after defeating Carlisle 79-60 in the final home basketball contest of the season, as heard live on KRLS.

Back-and-forth throughout the first fourteen minutes, Pella came out of a Mark Core timeout late in the 2nd and finished the first half on a 14-5 run to swing momentum in their favor and ramp up the crowd.

The Little Dutch outscored the Wildcats 23-13 in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

Senior Donovan Holterhaus tells KNIA/KRLS Sports Pella’s style of play seemed to frustrate the Wildcats down the stretch.

“As we kept pulling away, it just gave them less hope, so every time we scored and got a stop on defense and score back on offense, it gave them less and less hope,” he says.

Holterhaus had 22 points and nine rebounds, Ryan Van Wyk scored 23, and Nick Finney tacked on 21 of his own.

Pella is now 21-2 and has conference rival Grinnell in the Substate final Monday at Southeast Polk High School, with the winner advancing to the Class 3A state tournament.