After the teams clashed in close contests last year, Pella and Indianola kick off the Little Hawkeye Conference basketball seasons against each other in a girls-boys doubleheader at Pella High School tonight.
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The 1-1 Lady Dutch host No. 15 in 5A Indianola, who has also started 1-1. The two teams shared a common foe on back-to-back nights, as the Indians girls edged out North Polk by two 24 hours before the Comets came back late to knock off Pella 59-54.

Lady Dutch Head Coach Jerod Garland tabbed Indianola as the preseason favorite to win the conference this year, and feels his team will have to play a step better than they did Tuesday to compete with the fast-paced Indians.

Both boys teams in tonight’s match up played in several close games since Indianola joined the conference in 2016-17, however, Pella has lost five of those tight matchups in a row, including an 87-85 epic this past January and an overtime loss in the opener between the schools last winter.

Pella and Indianola have one win each, both coming against North Polk — the Indians rode a 2nd half surge to a comfortable 74-50 win Monday, while the Dutch blew the gates open against the Comets on their way to a 78-35 victory Tuesday.

Coverage from Pella High School begins at 5:45 p.m. on 94.3 KNIA and the KRLS2 stream — the radio broadcast is also featured on the Pella Dutch Live YouTube channel.