It’s a big night for the Pella girls and boys basketball teams tonight as they travel to Norwalk for the final Little Hawkeye Conference games of the season. For the girls it’s their final regular season game before starting post season play next Wednesday and for the boys, it’s a chance to knock off the top ranked team in Class 3A and earn at least a share of the LHC title.

The Pella girls won the first meeting between the two teams 56-35 but Coach Jarod Garland says it may not be as easy the second time around as Norwalk is much improved as they showed when they handed Knoxville their only loss of the season a couple weeks ago. Garland says with no games the past six days and this being their final game before post season he wants to see his girls continue to play hard and work well together and do the things they do well which is defense and pounding the ball inside. Pella is 15-3 on the season and 11-2 in the LHC while Norwalk is 11-10 overall and 7-6 in the LHC coming off their loss to Pella Christian last night.

The first game between the Norwalk and Pella boys was a fight to the finish that saw the Warriors gain a 51-48 win. Coach Mark Core says defensively he thought they played very well, but to beat the Warriors tonight he says they must play much better offensively. Core says he expects a tough, physical type of game tonight as both teams know that a LHC title is on the line. If Norwalk wins they will be the outright champs but if Pella wins they will earn at least a share of the title and could win it outright if Norwalk would fall at Pella Christian tomorrow afternoon. Core says they have to get the ball inside and be more aggressive to challenge Norwalk’s big guys and hopefully do a better job of getting to the free throw line.

Pella enters tonight’s game 15-2 overall and 12-1 in the LHC while top ranked Norwalk is undefeated at 17-0 overall and 13-0 in LHC play. You can hear tonight’s games live with Jamie Brockman and Randy Sikkema on 92.1 FM KRLS starting with the pre game at 6pm. The girls game tips off at 6:15pm followed by the boys. You can also access the live stream of the broadcast on kniakrls.com.