There’s no doubt it has been a strong start to the winter for the Pella girls basketball team. Ranked 11th in the final poll of 2021, the defensive-first minded Dutch have the potential to secure a strong postseason bracket and a top four spot in the Little Hawkeye Conference.

But the Pella girls also know some of their toughest hurdles lie ahead — despite a 6-2 overall record, they’ve lost twice to No. 3 North Polk and No. 7 Indianola in convincing fashion, and still have yet to see No. 4 Grinnell or No. 6 Dallas Center-Grimes on the conference circuit and will see those two contenders twice before season’s end.

Senior Anna Childerston says she’s excited to see how much they can improve over break and believes they are good enough to compete with some of those teams, but also understands it will be difficult facing what could be some of the schools competing in early March for a 4A state championship on a frequent basis.

Pella opens the 2022 portion of their schedule with Oskaloosa on Tuesday, January 4th at home in a girls-boys doubleheader.