A pair of differently defensive-minded teams will clash to begin the tournament trail for the #8 in Class 4A Pella girls basketball team tonight as they welcome Winterset.

The Dutch have used their organized chaos to get to the best regular season record for the program since 2016-17, and a system that has led to the fourth highest amount of total shots taken by any Class 4A team (1159). That was driven by the 2nd most offensive rebounds in 4A (284) and the 8th most steals generated of any team in the class (254).

A clash in styles comes from Winterset’s aim to slow the game down — where Pella wants to create as many possessions as possible in 32 minutes, Dutch Head Coach Blaine Forsythe says the Huskies aim to keep that number to the minimum allowed in a shot clock era.

“It looks a little different as far as the defense that we like to play and the offenses we see in our conference, so that will be an adjustment,” he says. “Being dialed in for the entire defensive possession and speeding them up a little bit and forcing them into shots their not comfortable taking are things we need to be focused on.”

In the deep Raccoon River Conference, Winterset has created the 6th best scoring defense in Class 4A at 38 points allowed per game. Huskies leading scorer Jena Young suffered a season ending injury nine games into the season, and she was a key player on the 2021 team that knocked the Dutch out of those playoffs — her absence has Winterset averaging just over 40 points per contest.

Coverage of the Class 4A regional semifinals girls basketball game at Pella High School begins at 6:30 this evening on 92.1 KRLS and the Pella Dutch Live YouTube channel.