The second part in a hopeful return for the Pella Christian girls to the State Basketball Tournament takes place tonight, as the Lady Eagles host Eddyville-Blakesburg in the Class 2A Regional Tournament. Pella Christian crushed Albia by 50 points in Saturday’s opener, while the Rockets shot past Pekin 75-55.

Lady Eagles’ head coach Kevin Van Maanen is expecting his defense to lead the way against a squad that gave his team some challenges when they faced each other on January 28th.

“We have to be ready to go, because they’re going to come after us, and it was kind of a tough game down there [Eddyville] by us. We just need to come out focused and have our defense ready to go,” said Van Maanen. “I think if we come out in an aggressive defense we’ll be ok, but hopefully our shooting is there too.”

The Pella Christian girls are 17-3 overall, while Eddyville-Blakesburg is 12-9 entering tonight’s Class 2A Regional Quarterfinal. Live coverage of the game can be heard on 92.1 fm KRLS with Eric Gotschall providing the play-by-play, starting at 6:45 p.m. tonight at Pella Christian High School.