There was an invisible cover over the hoop for the Pella High basketball teams on Friday night, as they couldn’t score many points against Grinnell in a pair of defeats. The Lady Dutch fell 42 – 33; the girls shot less than 20% from the field for the game, but still hung in there by forcing 17 Tiger turnovers. Marissa Borgerding had a double-double with ten points and ten rebounds to lead the team. The boys’ game looked like it would be a shootout after a 20 – 16 first quarter, but the Little Dutch couldn’t keep pace in a 60 – 46 loss. Grinnell’s size forced Pella to shoot jump shots, but they were unable to hit them after a hot start. Coach Mark Core says it’s very hard to beat the Tigers’ size. Jordan Pingel led all scorers with 19, and Seth Johnson backed him up with 11. Pella’s girls are now 4 – 4, the boys drop to 5 – 2, and they are off until January to host Pella Christian on the seventh.