Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

MARION – An upset? Sure.

A fluke? Not by a long shot.

Class 4A No. 15 Clear Creek Amana outplayed second-ranked Marion (21-2) from start to finish on Tuesday earning its first ever state tournament trip with an emphatic 66-49 win in the 4A, Region 6 title game in Marion.

“They came out and hit us hard and we had some seniors step up, Meagan (Harvey) hit a big 3 and we kind of withstood their tide a little bit,” Clear Creek Amana coach PJ Sweeney said. “From there we just took over and there was no doubt in anybody’s mind in this gym who the better team was.”

Clear Creek Amana (19-4) lost the regular season meeting with Marion by 29-points back on December 13.

In the rematch the Clippers never trailed over the final 24 minutes, handing defending 4A runner-up Marion its second home loss in the past five seasons and stopping the Indians streak of consecutive tournament appearances at four.

“Marion is a tremendous program, I have so much respect for what they have done for the past four or five years,” Sweeney said. “So, for us to come on their home court, in a regional finals for a chance to go to state and to knock them off by 17 points I couldn’t be more proud of our girls.”

Clear Creek Amana won 11 games the past two seasons, failing to make a regional final each year.

On Tuesday the stage never seemed too big for the Clippers which will take on top-ranked North Scott (23-0) in the opening round of the 4A state tournament on Tuesday at 11:45 a.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“This is something we’ve worked for all year,” Clear Creek Amana senior Meagan Harvey said. “They are the number two team in the state, they have a very talented group of girls, they are very well coached and we just came out and hit our shots, executed and played our game. We knew we could do it for four years and we took care of it tonight.”

Clear Creek Amana trailed 11-5 less than four minutes into the game as Marion hit four of its first five shots, three coming from beyond the 3-point arc.

The Clippers closed the quarter with an 8-0 run to take a 14-13 lead and never trailed again.

Harvey hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 13-10 and Stratton scored back-to-back baskets in the paint to put Clear Creek Amana up 14-13.

The final 24 minutes were all Clear Creek Amana.

Stratton had eight of her game-high 24 points in the second quarter, including a conventional 3-point play that gave the Clippers a 30-22 halftime lead.

“I knew it was going to be a dog fight, I thought we had the ability to win, we’ve been playing great basketball as of lately but this is a dream come true for me,” Stratton said. “I’ve been wanting this for four years now, it doesn’t even feel real.”

Marion opened the second half with a Riley Wright 3-pointer to cut the lead to 30-25 but just as they did all game the Clippers answered.

Harvey scored five straight points to push the lead to 35-25 and Marion never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.

“Especially after the first quarter we played calm and we played with confidence,” Clear Creek Amana sophomore Calia Clubb said. “All of the tight games we’ve played this season prepared us for tonight.”

Clear Creek Amana’s man-to-man defense caused problems for Marion all game.

The 49 points for Marion were four points off the season-low for the Indians which shot just 25 percent from the field.

Stratton hounded Marion all-stater Kayba Laube into a 4-for-15 shooting performance and held the Northern Iowa recruit to 13 points, 8.5 below here season average.

“We knew our defense was going to have to step up a little bit tonight, we had to stop their shooters,” Stratton said. “We didn’t think we were going to play man tonight but our man started working and we stuck with it and then we just controlled the tempo and took our shots.”

Marion had 17 offensive rebounds and held a 44-24 rebounding edge in its 59-30 regular season win.

On Tuesday Clear Creek Amana outrebounded Marion 43-33 thanks to 18 from Clubb who added 11 points in a double-double before fouling out.

“We came in with a game plan, we were going to sag off Riley Wright, we were going to sag off (Ella) Bockenstedt, we were going to go over screens and don’t let Kayba (Laube) get comfortable at the arc,” Sweeney said. “We executed the game plan to perfection and I couldn’t be more proud of those girls.”

Harvey finished with 16 points to go with 24 from Stratton as four Clippers finished in double figures.

Junior guard Whitney Traetow had 11 as Clear Creek Amana clinched the win by hitting 18-of-26 free throws in the fourth quarter.

“I’m really proud of our team because it was a true team effort,” Harvey said. “No one person could have gotten that blue banner.”

Laube and junior Ella Van Weelden each had 13 points for Marion while Wright added 11.

Clear Creek Amana              14  16  16  20  –  66

Marion                                      13   9   12  15  –  49

Clear Creek Amana (66) – Whitney Traetow 3-9 4-6 11, Calia Clubb 4-7 3-5 11, Allison Rummelhart 0-2 0-0 0, Gracie Downes 1-1 0-0 2, Karsyn Stratton 6-13 12-15 24, Meagan Harvey 4-6 5-8 16, Emily Sly 0-1 1-2 1, Morgan Etschiedt 0-1 1-2 1, Totals 18-40 26-38 66.

Marion (49) – Regan Rice 0-3 1-2 1, Grace Stephenson 0-3 0-0 0, Sadie Struchen 3-7 0-0 8, Riley Wright 3-16 4-4 11, Kayba Laube 4-15 3-4 13, Ella Van Weelden 4-11 4-5 13, Ella Bockenstedt 1-5 0-0 3, Totals 15-60 12-15 49.

3-point field goals – CCA 4-12 (Stratton 0-1, Traetow 1-5, Rummelhart 0-1, Havey 3-5), MAR 7-32 (Rice 0-1, Stephenson 0-2, Struchen 2-6, Wright 1-9, Laube 2-8, Van Weelden 1-4, Bockenstedt 1-2). Rebounds – CCA 43 (Clubb 18), MAR 33 (Van Weelden 8). Turnovers – CCA 9, MAR 5. Fouls – CCA 14, MAR 21. Fouled out – MAR (Van Weelden, Wright), CCA (Clubb). Technical fouls – None.

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