The Pella Little Dutch will attempt to get back to the State Championship game for the first time since 2003 tonight when they face number one ranked and top seeded Mount Pleasant in the Class 3A semifinals at Wells Fargo Arena.

Pella put on a defensive clinic in their 85-50 win over Forest City in Tuesday’s quarterfinal round forcing a very good ball handling team into 29 turnovers which led to 37 Pella points. Coach Mark Core says the Panthers are a very well rounded team . He referred to their inside play as “ amazing” but says they can also hurt you from outside, so once again they will have to be very sound on defense:

The two teams played in Mt Pleasant in just the third game of this season and the Panthers pulled out a hard fought 63-61 win. Core says a lot has changed on both sides since then but at least there’s some familiarity when it comes to preparatrion:

Core says they feel confident they can compete with the top ranked Panthers and hopes their defense can disrupt their flow as it has most other teams this season. Pella is 21-3 on the season while Mount Pleasant is 22-1 coming off their 60-50 quarterfinal win over Western Dubuque. The winner moves on to Saturday night’s Class 3A championship where they would face either Sioux City Heelan or Davenport Assumption while the loser will head to Saturday afternoon’s consolation at noon.

You can hear tonight’s game live with Jamie Brockman and Randy Sikkema on 92.1 FM KRLS starting with the pre game coverage at 6pm from Wells Fargo Arena. Tickets for tonight’s game are on sale from 8am-4pm today in the Pella High School office for $8.00 each and 25 cents from each ticket sold will go to Pella High School.