Best Season in Clear Creek Amana History Ends With Quarterfinal Loss to Top-ranked North Scott
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
DES MOINES – The magical postseason run that punctuated the most successful season in Clear Creek Amana history came to an end on Tuesday.
It took the top-ranked, unbeaten defending state champion led by one of the state’s most dominant players to do it.
Grace Boffeli scored 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds as No. 1 North Scott (24-0) spoiled the state tournament debut for No. 15 Clear Creek Amana with a 63-43 win in a Class 4A quarterfinal at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
“They are a good team, they are going to be tough to beat there is a reason they are ranked number one,” Clear Creek Amana senior Karsyn Stratton said. “Boffeli is tough to stop and even when we try to double her the other girls can hit shots. It’s impressive. They are a good team.”
Clear Creek Amana knocked off third-ranked Center Point-Urbana and second-ranked Marion in two of its final three games.
The top-ranked team in the state proved to simply be too much.
Defending 4A champion North Scott bolted to a 20-4 lead less than seven minutes in and never let Clear Creek Amana (19-5) get back in the game.
The Lancers hit four of their six 3-pointers in the opening quarter while building a 25-9 lead that would never shrink under 14 points the rest of the game.
“Our game plan coming in was to take away Boffeli and hitting those threes kind of forced our hand a little bit,” Sweeney said. “Then we kind of let her get loose a little bit in the second and third so tip your hat to them they played a great game.”
The second leading scorer in the state the 6-foot-2 Boffeli finished just shy of her 29.4 point per game average but it was the rest of the Lancers that put Clear Creek Amana in an early hole.
Senior point guard Presley Case hit two first-quarter 3-pointers and Samantha Scott added a 3-pointer as North Scott built its early lead.
Senior Adriane Latham had six of her eight points in the opening quarter.
“They are a really tough team because they have so many good players,” Clear Creek Amana senior Meagan Harvey said. “A player like Boffeli it’s really tough to match her up one-on-one so double down on her is a must and then having Case and Scott on the outside who can hit shots confidently is tough. We played hard and we prepared the best we could that’s just the way the ball fell.”
With Clear Creek Amana forced to abandon its double teams on Boffeli the Northern Iowa recruit went to work in the paint.
The 29 points for Boffeli came on 7-of-10 shooting from the field helping the Lancers shoot 52 percent for the game.
“I played with her a little bit this summer so I knew what was coming but she’s gotten better even throughout the season,” Stratton said of Boffeli. “She is no joke, she’s the real deal.”
Harvey had a game-high 14 points for Clear Creek Amana, going 4-of-7 from 3-point range as North Scott focused its defensive effort on controlling Stratton.
The fourth leading scorer in 4A at 21.2 points per game entering the game Stratton was held to a season-low eight points on 4-of-12 shooting.
“We just wanted to limit her touches,” North Scott coach TJ Case said of defending Stratton. “We were going to make her earn everything that she got. She’s tough. I haven’t seen a girl on a dribble pull up like that from 15 feet. She comes off the ball screen really well, she finishes through contact so we wanted to challenge her shot and not foul her.”
The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for Clear Creek Amana which had won 14 of its last 15 games dating back to December.
“It really was fun and looking back this team has done so many great things,” Harvey said. “I love this team with my whole heart. We fell short to a really, really strong team and I wish them luck the rest of the way.”
Even with the opening-round loss on Tuesday Clear Creek Amana had a season that will go down as the best in program history.
The Clippers set a single-season school record with 19 wins and won the WAMAC West Division title for the first time before making its first ever trip to the state tournament.
“It was a dream season that will go down as the best in history and that’s a good feeling to have,” Stratton said. “As I look back on it I will really grateful for the ride, we would have obviously liked to move on a little further but getting here was obviously a dream.”
Clear Creek Amana 9 8 12 14 – 43
North Scott 25 11 17 10 – 63
North Scott (63) – Presley Case 5-12 0-0 12, Brooke Kilburg 2-4 0-1 6, Samantha Scott 2-7 2-2 7, Adriane Latham 4-4 0-0 8, Grace Boffeli 10-13 7-10 28, Reagan Schoening 1-2 0-0 2, Avery Woods 0-2 0-0 0, Alissa Bockenfeld 0-1 0-0 0, Lauren Golinghorst 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 24-46 9-13 63.
Clear Creek Amana (43) – Whitney Traetow 1-3 0-0 2, Calia Clubb 2-5 1-2 5, Karsyn Stratton 4-12 0-2 8, Meagan Harvey 5-9 0-0 14, Emily Sly 2-3 2-4 6, Gabrielle Bedford 0-1 0-0 0, Allison Rummelhart 0-5 0-0 0, Gracie Downes 1-1 0-0 2, Morgan Etscheidt 2-6 0-0 4, Ainsley Schrock 0-0 2-2 2, Totals 17-45 5-10 43.
3-point field goals – CCA 4-13 (Traetow 0-2, Harvey 4-7, Bedford 0-1, Rummelhart 0-3), NS 6-19 (Case 2-6, Kilburg 2-3, Scott 1-6, Boffeli 1-2, Woods 0-1, Bockenfeld 0-1). Rebounds – CCA 22 (Clubb 5), NS 30 (Boffeli 9). Assists – CCA 8 (Stratton 3), NS 13 (Case 5). Turnovers – CCA 14, NS 9. Total fouls – CCA 13, NS 14. Fouled out – CCA (Clubb). Technical fouls – None.
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