The Pella High girls basketball team scored the first eight points of the second half and 14 of the first 16 en route to a season opening 58-37 win last night over Mount Pleasant.

The Lady Dutch led 27-26 at the end of the first half, and coach Jerod Garland says that he could see his team getting better as the game wore on.

“This year, we’re going to have to have a lot of people chip in and do what they do, because we lost a lot, obviously. We’re not going to ask any girl to do too much, everybody just needs to do what they can do to contribute to the team with their strengths. I think you saw that in the second half. We had defensive stops and people that blocked out well and ran out. It was fun to see the improvement in the second half.”

Emily Holterhaus, the team’s lone returning starter from last year’s state tournament team, led Pella with 20 points.

The Lady Dutch start the season with a 1-0 record, and will travel to North Polk next Tuesday for another non-conference contest.