The Pella High girls avenged an earlier overtime loss to Oskaloosa with a 53-48 win on the Indians’ home court last night. Pella built a steady lead early on – leading 29-21 at halftime – but saw the Indians pull back to within four points midway through the third period. The Lady Dutch countered with one of two big three-pointers from Bailey Vande Weerd to regain control of the game; eventually closing out the contest at the free-throw line in the game’s waning seconds. Pella girls’ head coach Jerod Garland said the play of his backcourt was vital to the team’s success.

“The guards really played well tonight. Katie Sunderman was absolutely huge tonight. She definitely was on a mission tonight, and you could just tell the last couple of nights – and even in warm-ups – that she was really dialed in and looking to be aggressive tonight,” said Garland. “Then she [Sunderman] goes 8-for-8 from the line and hit a couple of big ones down the stretch, so she was huge tonight. And Bailey [Vande Weerd] hits a couple of threes for us, so [it was] a really big night for our guards.”

Sunderman finished with 13 points and Vande Weerd chipped in 9, while forward Regan Cooper again led the Lady Dutch offense with a 20-point, 11-rebound performance. The Pella girls are now 9-6 overall and 6-3 in the Little Hawkeye Conference. They’ll be right back on the floor this afternoon, as they host Dallas Center-Grimes in non-conference play, starting at 3:00 p.m. at Pella High School.