With each team getting off to hot and impressive starts to the season, the first installment of the Pella – Pella Christian rivalry this basketball season will be all the more interesting this evening. The Pella High girls’ basketball team enters with a 2 – 5 record, but in their last two games, pushed a ranked Dallas Center-Grimes team to the brink and completely blew Carlisle out of the water. For the Eagles’ girls, they are coming off their first loss of the year to the number one team in the state in Class 2A, and are focusing on their defense and slowing the pace of the game down to a more comfortable level. For the boys, each team enters the contest with a similar record (Pella: 5 – 1, Pella Christian: 5 – 2), and both coaches are looking for their teams to improve their styles of play from what they showed in 2012. For Pella Christian, Coach Larry Hessing wants to see his guys play more physical and talk to each other more on the court. Little Dutch head coach, Mark Core, said that the height difference between the two squads plays a big role in Hessing’s meaning of “physical.” Core is looking for his guys to take higher percentage shots and make more of them. Tonight’s Little Hawkeye Conference match-up will be aired live on 92.1 KRLS with Jamie Brockman and Wynne Veenstra on the call, with an abbreviated pregame show starting immediately after Focus on the Family at around 6:00 p.m., and the girls’ game tips off shortly after. Coverage will also be streamed live on our website, kniakrls.com.

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