Make it five trips in the row in the final 16 for the Pella girls basketball program after the No. 15 Lady Dutch defeated Norwalk 59-33 Saturday afternoon, in a game heard live on 92.1 KRLS.

The Warriors, without their senior captain Gianna Bellizzi, could not handle the pressure defense of the Lady Dutch, as Pella opened up a 16-5 lead after one quarter and never looked back. Pella pulled away with six first-half three pointers and were able to get the full roster on the floor in the blowout.

Head Coach Jerod Garland says one of the biggest keys in the game was the 39-23 rebound edge they enjoyed, giving themselves plenty of extra opportunities on offense.

“From the very beginning, I thought our girls came out and executed what we wanted to do,” Garland says. “One of our main goals was to crash to glass, because we felt like we had an advantage on that if we could work on it, and our girls crashed extremely hard.”

Emily Holterhaus, in her final basketball game in her home gym, had a vintage 15 point, 14 rebound, 3 blocked shot performance, and Madison Parks knocked in three first half shots from downtown to get to nine points.

Pella improves to 15-6 overall, and will try to pull off the upset at No. 3 Grinnell Tuesday, with a trip to the state tournament on the line. The game can be heard on 92.1 KRLS, with pregame starting at 6:30. The Tigers defeated ADM Saturday night 75-58.