The Pella High boys basketball team can clinch at least a share of the Little Hawkeye Conference championship when the Little Dutch host Grinnell in a doubleheader tonight.

Coming off of Friday’s loss to Dallas Center-Grimes, Pella is still one game clear of the Mustangs and can win the league outright with wins tonight against the Tigers and Thursday against cross town rival Pella Christian.  The Little Dutch pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Grinnell by 15 less than two weeks ago, and Coach Derek Schulte says his guys will be up for a tough challenge again tonight.

“They’re a big physical team.  It depends on how healthy they are as to how big they are, but we know either way they’re going to try to play through the paint and use their size and strength inside.  And then they have a couple guards who can really shoot it.  As we’ve seen of their season, they have that ability to knock off top teams and really good teams, when you look at them beating Pella Christian and Clear Creek-Amana and some of those teams.  We’ve got to be ready to go.”

In the opener tonight, Pella’s girls will try to snap their eight game losing streak to the Tigers.  The last time the Lady Dutch beat Grinnell was in Pella’s last state tournament season – 2016.  That nearly changed a month ago, but the Tigers erased a nine-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter by outsourcing the Lady Dutch by 15 in the final frame.

Tonight’s doubleheader starts at 6:15 at Pella High School.  Trevor Castle and Brian Vande Lune will call the action on the KRLS2 stream at www.kniakrls.com, beginning with pregame coverage at 6:00.  Audio commentary will also be available with video on the Pella Dutch Live YouTube channel.