By Cameron Vander Wal

With the new year already here, the Pella girls and boys basketball team start their 2020 on the road in Adel. They will face the ADM Tigers for a non-conference matchup. The Lady Dutch walk in to this game with a 4-3 record while the Tigers sit with a 6-2 record. ADM’s two losses have come against the fifth and sixth ranked teams in 4A. Junior Madison Naig is leading the Dutch with 11.6 points per contest and ADM’s senior leader, Abbie Hlas is putting up 20.8 points per game.

Head Coach Jerod Garland says the Lady Dutch will have to be at the top of their game to knock off the Tigers.

“ADM is a very strong team, they probably would be up there with DCG and Grinnell if they were in our conference,” said coach Garland. “They’re gonna be a really strong team. They are quick and athletic and physical and aggressive with a phenomenal scorer who is a top six or seven scorer in the state in 4A in Abbie Hlas averaging about 21 a game. So they’re going to present a lot of challenges definitely but it will be a good opportunity to test us. ”

The boys from Pella will play their 7th game of the 2019-20 season following the girls. With the Little Dutch coming off of a good win against Norwalk, the boys are looking to repeat what they did last year against ADM, but in a different fashion. Junior Grant Nelson banked in a buzzer-beating fadeaway three point shot to take a win from the Tigers. ADM’s Jaxson Milsap and Nathan Mueller are both averaging over 15 points per game heading into this game. Pella’s Logan Shetterly is averaging 22.2 points, which is 9th in the state for 3A, with Sturgeon and Oltman putting up 16 and 13 points per game so far this season respectively.

The Little and Lady Dutch head to Adel, with opening tip of the girls-boys doubleheader at 2:30 this afternoon.