The Pella boys and girls basketball teams will play on tonight despite the extreme cold and travel to Norwalk to begin the second round of Little Hawkeye Conference competition of the winter circuit.

In the opener, the now-unranked Dutch girls will try to find their footing against the #3 in 4A Warriors. At the December 5th matchup, Pella held a brief lead in the 3rd quarter against the state and conference title contenders before falling 65-46. Sophomore Braylyn Birmingham torched the Dutch for 39 points, and is averaging a 2nd best-in-the-state 30.2 points per contest. Norwalk has won five games in a row in the series dating back to 2023.

Pella’s #5 in 3A boys are tied with Norwalk atop the league standings after the first rotation of play at 5-1. The Dutch largely dominated the Warriors on December 5th by a 65-49 margin. Norwalk’s Tillman Papcun leads the way with 22.6 points per game — and he scored 22 in that prior matchup. Pella is also bolstered by the returning Griffin Simpson, who missed most of the season but has since played in two games, scoring 15 against Des Moines Christian on Tuesday.

The Pella and Norwalk basketball games will be varsity only and have been moved up one hour. Live coverage from Norwalk High School will begin at 4:45 this afternoon on 92.1 KRLS.