If the Pella girls basketball team aims to be one of the final 16 teams playing in the Class 4A playoffs, they will need to play spoiler against a longtime conference foe tonight as they travel to Grinnell.

The Dutch will need to end a long losing streak against the #6 in 4A Tigers — the last time Pella was victorious was during the 2016-17 season, when the teams split with each other and a year where both teams ended up at the state tournament. That was the last time Pella has been in the final eight, while Grinnell made it two more consecutive seasons and have had their rivals’ number since and have won 11 in a row, including a season sweep this winter. While the first matchup went continuous clock, the Dutch outscored the Tigers for nearly three quarters after falling behind 26-9 in the first eight minutes 11 days ago in the same gym these teams are playing in tonight.

Pella Girls Head Coach Blaine Forsythe knows they need to put together their best game of the season to find the upset, snap the streak, and move on to the Regional finals.

“We’ll have to value the basketball and limit the number of turnovers we have, and defensively, we have to play a really good game, just making sure we are out on shooters and winning that one-on-one battle and just making it difficult,” he says. “We know they’re going to make shots and they have a lot of really good players who play at a high level, and we have to make it difficult for them every time they shoot the basketball.”

The Tigers have the highest scoring offense in Class 4A at 66.2 points per game and best margin of victory at 25.2, fueled by their best in 4A rebounding total of 34.6 per game and their 10 three pointers made per contest — also tops in the class.

Coverage of Pella vs. Grinnell postseason girls basketball begins at 6:30 this evening on 92.1 KRLS.