The Tulip City Showdown kicks off the 2024 slate for the four basketball teams striving for improvement and big wins to start the new year — and in the girls matchup, it’s a mix of oil and water on paper, and one that could be tough for the road team to overcome.
The #14 in Class 4A Pella girls (8-2, 2-1 in the LHC) come into the new year white hot, winning their last six games by an average margin of 24 points per contest and limiting opponents to 34 points per night.
Pella Christian (3-6 overall, 1-2 in the LHC) had an uneven end to 2023, but appear to be rapidly improving with a squad that features three freshmen and a sophomore among their top six scorers. If the upstart Eagles are to pull off a massive upset, they need to figure out a statistical gap that will be difficult to close.
Entering Friday, the Dutch lead the Little Hawkeye Conference with their 15.7 steals per game; the Eagles currently rank last with 24.1 turnovers per contest. The Dutch also lead the league in assists and rebounds. Pella Christian Head Coach Brendan Foughty knows his squad has to protect the basketball and minimize turnovers as best they can to stand a chance.
“We’re going to be ready for whatever they through at us, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy,” he says. “We’re going to work on handling their pressure and you see good teams that play them that take them out of their pressure, and that would be goal of ours — can we be a really good team that can take Pella out of their pressure?”
Dutch Head Coach Blaine Forsythe knows the Eagles will bring their best Friday night, as the rivalry tends to pull the scores a bit tighter between the neighboring schools.
“Coach Foughty has done a really good job over at Pella Christian and he has those girls playing hard, and it’s always a fun rivalry for us, and you can throw records out the window — I’ve learned that in my two years of coaching this one,” he says.
Coverage of the Tulip City Showdown Doubleheader: Round One begins at 5:45 Friday on 92.1 KRLS and Pella Dutch Live.