Despite blowing an 11-point fourth quarter lead, the Pella High girls basketball team had enough to outlast Ballard 62-58 in a class 4A regional semifinal Saturday night as heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

The Dutch led 12-11 after the first quarter and stretched it to 29-23 at the half. A hot start to the third quarter gave Pella an 11-point lead at 37-26, which Ballard promptly sliced into with an 8-0 run. But the Dutch finished the quarter strong and hit an early fourth quarter three-pointer to regain that 11-point advantage at 47-36.

That’s when the Bombers’ Alliyah Thompson took over, scoring their first 12 points of the frame as Ballard went on a 19-8 run to tie the game at 55. Abby Warner then scored her first and only points of the night on a put back and Sophia Reynolds nailed a pair of free throws to give Pella a four-point lead. Ballard’s Raegan Loewe responded with her third three-pointer of the game, but Kennedy Van Vark made three of four free throws in the final seven seconds to clinch the game for Blaine Forsythe’s Dutch.

“They’re a state tournament team consistently and for our girls to go out there and battle for 32 minutes, I just can’t thank them enough for what they put out there on the floor tonight. We’re used to playing games, and all of a sudden we have almost two weeks off and no games. I’m proud of how our girls responded and how our scout team was able to replicate them despite not having anyone that’s 6’1″ or 6’3″. I just thought our girls did a tremendous job across the board.”

Katie Scheckel was Pella’s leading scorer with 17 points and both Van Vark and Tristan Gordon added 13. The Dutch are now 16-6 on the season and will travel to Dallas Center-Grimes Tuesday night to take on the defending state champion and this year’s Little Hawkeye Conference champs with a trip to Wells Fargo Arena on the line.