It’s a rare occasion for anyone from Pella to play anyone from the Waterloo metro in any sport, but a matchup featuring the two cities kicks off girls regional basketball play in the Tulip City this evening. The Pella Girls (12-9 overall, t-4th in the Little Hawkeye Conference) welcome Waterloo East (3-18 overall, 0-15 Mississippi Valley Conference) to begin the 4A tournament trail.

There’s no crossover opponents this winter between the two schools, as the Trojans compete in the 4A-5A heavy Mississippi Valley Conference — and according to power rankings site BCMoore, they played the 8th toughest schedule of all 4A teams. Pella Head Coach Blaine Forsythe says that will make this seemingly lopsided matchup on paper a lot more difficult, and he knows the Dutch have to play a strong game to advance to the waiting Grinnell Tigers.

“Excited to play in our home gym and for the opportunity to play, and Waterloo East is a team that plays in a really tough conference against 5A opponents, so they’ve played some high levels teams and it hasn’t necessarily resulted in wins, but that’s something we can’t focus on,” he says.

The Trojans are led by talented sophomore Brooklyn Love, who averages 13.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, and five blocks per game in the post.

Coverage of Pella vs. Waterloo East girls regional basketball begins at 6:30 this evening on 92.1 KRLS and the Pella Dutch Live YouTube channel.