Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – The shooting slump that has plagued Clear Creek Amana the past two games appears to be short lived.

Class 4A seventh-ranked Clear Creek Amana (8-2) matched a season-high with 13 3-pointers in a 70-49 win over 3A No. 11 Mount Vernon in a WAMAC Conference cross-divisional contest on Tuesday in Tiffin.

“We’ve been shooting well in practice and I thought maybe the comfort of playing at home that would make a difference,” Clear Creek Amana coach PJ Sweeney said. “We have tremendous shooters and I knew eventually they were going to fall and tonight they did.”

A normally efficient Clear Creek Amana offense was uncharacteristically cold in games before and after the holiday break.

Clear Creek Amana went a combined 3-of-27 from 3-point range and shot 30 percent from the field in a 51-36 loss to Benton Community on December 20 and a 43-30 win over West Delaware on Friday.

The Clippers snapped out of that slump in impressive fashion on Tuesday.

Clear Creek Amana shot 53 percent from the floor including 61 percent through three quarters while building a 30-point lead.

“It was kind of a relief to be honest,” Clear Creek Amana senior guard Olivia Miller said. “We’ve been shooting well in practice and in scrimmages we shoot good but they just weren’t falling in games. We had some good practices and I think that brought our confidence up.”

Miller went 6-of-9 from 3-point range and scored a game-high 20 points while freshman Averie Lower was 5-of-5 from beyond the arc and had 18 points.

Four different Clippers hit 3-pointers as Clear Creek Amana finished 13-of-26 from deep.

“It was nice to have the rhythm back,” Lower said. “When someone starts making shots everyone starts making them.”

After producing its two lowest scoring outputs of the season while averaging 39.5 points in its previous two games Clear Creek Amana was sharp from the outset on Tuesday.

Miller and Reese Stockman hit 3-pointers during a 10-0 Clear Creek Amana first-quarter run that gave the Clippers a lead that would never be threatened.

Lower added a 3-pointer in the first quarter as Clear Creek Amana went 8-of-13 from the field while building a 21-11 lead after one quarter.

“We really drilled offense in practice in a lot and studied our film,” Miller said. “We knew what defense they would run and what our options were against that defense.”

Lower made three 3-pointers in a span of less than two minutes to spark an 11-0 Clear Creek Amana second-quarter run that pushed the lead to 32-13.

“We had great spacing and we were really aware of where everyone was,” Lower said. “We moved the ball well.”

Clear Creek Amana shot 58 percent from the field in the first half, including 7-of-16 from 3-point range and committed just three first-half turnovers while building a 40-22 lead.

While Clear Creek Amana was clicking on offense they were forcing Mount Vernon (7-5) into 10 first-half turnovers and holding the Mustangs to 42 percent shooting.

“I think our defense kind of led to our offense a little bit,” Sweeney said. “I think we were locked in on defense.”

Miller and Lower led the way but Clear Creek Amana got contributions from across the lineup.

Ava Locklear had 11 points and seven rebounds, Sam Schrage had eight points and Bliss Beck had six points and five rebounds.

“We put in a little wrinkle in our offense against the 2-3 zone where we did things a little differently and I think that set things up tremendously for us,” Sweeney said. “We shared the ball, we made the extra pass and we had wide open looks.”

Courtney Franck and Brynley Rasmussen each had 10 points to lead Mount Vernon.

Clear Creek Amana returns to action on Friday at Class 3A sixth-ranked Center Point-Urbana.

“This makes us feel better knowing we have a hard game on the road against a good team,” Miller said. “It’s good to get a game like this before that game.”

Mount Vernon                        11  11  12  15  –  49

Clear Creek Amana              21  19  20  10  –  70

Mount Vernon (49) – Taylor Franck 0-3 2-2 2, Kameron Brand 1-5 2-2 5, Courtney Franck 3-3 2-2 10, Lilly See 3-10 1-2 9, Chloe Meester 1-3 0-2 2, Eryn Jackson 1-2 0-0 2, Brynley Rasmussen 5-8 0-0 10, Peyton Simpson 3-5 2-2 9, Totals 17-39 9-12 49.

Clear Creek Amana (70) – Kaylee Stratton 1-3 0-0 2, Kiera Rogers 0-1 0-0 0, Averie Lower 6-6 1-2 18, Sam Schrage 3-5 1-1 8, Lena Evans 0-2 0-0 0, Olivia Miller 7-11 0-0 20, Meg Berkland 0-1 0-0 0, Bliss Beck 2-4 2-2 6, Reese Stockman 2-6 0-0 5, Ava Locklear 5-10 1-2 11, Totals 26-49 5-7 70.

3-point field goals – CCA 13-26 (Ka. Stratton 0-2, Lower 5-5, Schrage 1-3, Evans 0-1, Miller 6-9, Berkland 0-1, Stockman 1-4, Locklear 0-1), MV 6-13 (T. Franck 0-2, Brand 1-3, C. Franck 2-2, See 2-3, Jackson 0-1, Simpson 1-2). Rebounds – CCA 20 (Locklear 7), MV 26 (Rasmussen 5). Turnovers – CCA 6, MV 18. Total fouls – CCA 11, MV 7. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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