Clear Creek Amana senior Lauren HelleBy Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports

SOLON – After the first half of Tuesday’s season opener Be DeShaw was in line to match her scoring average of three points from a season ago.

In the second half DeShaw did a lot more than just meet last year’s average.

DeShaw scored 12 of her career-high 14 points in the second half helping Clear Creek Amana pull away for a 62-47 win over Solon in a WAMAC cross-divisional matchup in Solon.

“I think last year she averaged three points a game for us and tonight she had 14,” Clear Creek Amana coach P.J. Sweeney said. “She was big. She is such a good teammate, she is such a good leader and she is a girl that I can trust out there and she stepped up huge tonight.”

DeShaw hit all four of her second-half field goal attempts, all from 3-point range as Clear Creek Amana broke open a four-point game in the third quarter.

The senior guard hit three 3-pointers in a span of less than four minutes during a 17-6 Clipper run to end the third quarter.

“I had a bad practice yesterday so I stayed after longer just making sure that my shots were going in and I had to finish stronger,” DeShaw said. “I think that built my confidence more.”

Freshman Karsyn Stratton added a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds to help Clear Creek Amana (1-0) win its season opener for the third straight season.

Bryn Hanrahan had a game-high 19 points and Josie Durr added 17 for Solon (0-1) as the Spartans shot 33 percent from the field.

“We have a ton of new kids and we were subbing like crazy tonight just to try to figure out who is playing well together,” Solon coach Lisa Bishop said. “We are trying a lot of stuff. We are trying a lot defensively, we are trying a lot offensively and I felt like most of the night we are just out of sync.”

Neither team led by more than four in the first half until Clear Creek Amana broke a 14-14 tie with a 10-0 run that featured 3-pointers by Claire Navara and Abbi Kinnaird.

The Clippers led 26-18 at the half after Stratton hit a pair of free throws with 4.7 seconds left in the second quarter.

Solon held Clear Creek Amana scoreless for more than three minutes to open the second half while trimming the lead to 26-22.

DeShaw stopped the run with a 3-pointer with 4:34 left in the third quarter and was just getting warmed up.

“That first one was definitely big,” DeShaw said. “That got things rolling and just made me want to put the ball up more.”

Alli Prybil answered the DeShaw triple with a 3-pointer of her own that made it 29-25 with 4:20 left.

That was as close as the Spartans would get.

DeShaw started an 11-0 run with a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 4:05 left in the third quarter.

Following a conventional three-point play by Stratton, DeShaw connected again from the top of the key to make it 38-25 with 1:03 left.

A Lauren Helle layup capped the 11-0 run and pushed the Clipper lead to 40-25.

It helps when you knock down some shots,” Sweeney said. “Every single time Solon would make a little bit of a run someone like Be DeShaw stepped up and hit a three. I couldn’t be more proud of the girls.”

Kinnaird beat the third quarter buzzer with a 3-pointer from the corner to give Clear Creek Amana a 43-28 lead that would never be threatened.

Stratton had four straight Clear Creek Amana points to open the fourth quarter to put the game away.

The freshman helped the Clippers to a 42-24 rebounding edge with her game-high 10 rebounds.

“I was more excited than I was nervous,” Stratton said. “I had to get going and I was able to get in my groove.”

Hanrahan and Durr combined for 36 of the Spartans 47 points as Solon shot 33 percent from the field.

Brianna Smith had five points and was the only other Spartan with more than three.

“This is the first time we have really come together,” Durr said. “We just have to get going. I feel like once we start to click we will be able to pick it up and play well.”

Erin Navara added eight points for Clear Creek Amana while Kinnaird had seven and Helle had six points and eight rebounds.

Solon                          9   9 10 19 – 47
Clear Creek Amana  11 15 17 19 – 62

Solon (47) – Alli Prybil 1-1 0-0 3, Bryn Hanrahan 6-9 4-4 19, Taylor Ryan 0-4 1-2 1, Saige Haurer 0-1 0-0 0, Bryce Hinkel 0-4 0-0 0, Brianna Smith 2-7 1-2 5, Sam Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Erin Kerkhoff 1-2 0-0 2, Josie Durr 5-14 6-8 17, Lexi Stebral 0-3 0-0 0, Team 15-45 12-16 47.

Clear Creek Amana (62) – Be DeShaw 5-7 0-0 14, Jordan Neely 0-2 2-2 2, Meagan Harvey 2-4 0-0 4, Claire Navara 1-6 2-2 5, Karsyn Stratton 5-12 6-7 16, Abbi Kinnaird 2-7 1-2 7, Erin Navara 3-6 2-3 8, Lauren Helle 2-9 2-2 6, Team 20-53 15-18 62.

3-point field goals – CCA 7-21 (DeShaw 4-5, Neely 0-2, C. Navara 1-6, Stratton 0-1, Kinnaird 2-6, E. Navara 0-1). SOL 5-22 (Prybil 1-1, Hanrahan 3-4, Ryan 0-2, Haurer 0-1, B. Smith 0-4, Miller 0-1, Durr 1-9). Rebounds – CCA 42 (Stratton 10), SOL 24 (Durr 5). Turnovers – CCA 16, SOL 16. Total Fouls – CCA 15, SOL 18. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.