The Pella girls basketball team opened their season last night with a loss to defending Class 3A state champion Ballard 62-46. Pella got off to a slow start trailing 14-4 in the first quarter, but battled back within 33-29 at halftime. Ballard used a 15-6 run in the third quarter to re gain control of the game and eventually outscored Pella 29-17 in the second half to get the win. Lindsay Bentzinger led Pella with 14 points, MacKenzie Anthony added nine points and Courtney Kelderman and Jordyn Vandelune each added eight points. Last night also marked the debut of Jerrod Garland as head coach, replacing long time head coach Mike Vint who retired after last season. Garland says this was a great test for his team and they love playing competition like Ballard because it’ll only make them better in the long run, but he says the fact that a lot of the girls only had 4-5 practices after volleyball showed and they definitely need more practice time together to get better. Pella will get that chance now as they are off until Tuesday when they open up LHC play.