4A No. 2 Clear Creek Amana Dominates Fourth Quarter, Downs Top-ranked Solon
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
SOLON – For three quarters Tuesday’s showdown between Clear Creek Amana and Solon was exactly what most expected.
A back-and-forth battle between a couple of of title contenders.
The Clipper delivered the knock out blow in the form of a dominant fourth quarter.
Class 4A second-ranked Clear Creek Amana outscored 3A top-ranked Solon 24-2 in the fourth quarter on its way to a 58-37 win in a battle of WAMAC Conference unbeatens in Solon.
“We knew it was going to be a battle, we knew this was going to be one of the biggest games of the year,” Clear Creek Amana senior Sam Schrage said. “We executed our game plan and we didn’t give up when we were down. We wanted it really bad and we knew what we had to do.”
Senior Ava Locklear scored 20 of her game-high 26 points in the second half as Clear Creek Amana erased a seven-point halftime deficit.
Clear Creek Amana held Solon (6-1) to a single made field goal in the second half on 1-of-20 shooting from the floor and closed the game on a 27-2 run.
Solon went nearly 11 minutes to close the game without a field goal, missing all 10 of its fourth-quarter attempts.
“We wanted to trap corners, take aways sidelines and make sure we knew where Callie (Levin) was at,” Clear Creek Amana coach PJ Sweeney said. “We tried to really contain her and frustrate her and I think our 1-3-1 with our length and size really gave them fits.”
Levin had 20 points on 5-of-21 shooting and was 1-of-11 from the field in the second half.
A Levin 3-pointer with 2:51 to play in the third quarter was the final field goal for Solon which shot 26 percent for the game.
“All week we worked on getting to our close outs and not getting beat off the dribble and I think we executed really well tonight,” Schrage said. “We kept them in front of us, we got in their face and it worked well for us.”
The two teams went back and forth in the first half.
Clear Creek Amana led 13-8 after one quarter and Solon took a 27-20 lead into the break when Delainey Durr beat the halftime buzzer with a 3-pointer from the corner.
It was 34-28 when Levin hit the 3-pointer with 2:51 left in the third quarter and the Spartans led 35-31 after a Mia Stahle free throw with 1:45 remaining in the third quarter.
The rest of the game was all Clippers.
“We knew what we had to do, we’ve been preparing for this as a big game and we knew we were playing a great team on their home court,” Locklear said. “We just settled in and did what we do best.”
Clear Creek Amana scored the final three points of the third quarter to cut the lead to 35-34.
The Clippers than scored seven points in a span of 66 seconds to open the fourth quarter to take a 41-35 lead.
“We knew we had it and we wanted it really bad,” Clear Creek Amana sophomore Averie Lower said. “We didn’t get down when we were behind we just kept battling and we finished it out.”
ocklear started the fourth-quarter barrage with a turnaround jumper on the base line.
That 12-foot fadeaway was just the start for Locklear who had 10 fourth-quarter points on 4-of-5 shooting.
“It’s a morale booster when you hit a tough shot like that,” Locklear said. “When you hit a shot like that you know you can do it so I think that boosted my confidence there at the end.”
Lower hit a 3-pointer and Lena Evans had a steal and layup during the 7-0 start to the quarter for the Clippers.
The run reached 13-0 after a Bliss Beck bucket off an Evans feed and back-to-back buckets by Locklear that pushed the lead to 47-35.
“Getting the ball inside is something we always talk about and we know what can happen when we do that and I think our shooters understand when we get it inside they are going to have open shots,” Locklear said. “We talk about that all day every day, that’s kind of our thing.”
Clear Creek Amana shot 74 percent in the second half (14-of-19) and 55 percent for the game as Lower added 13 points and Evans had seven.
“Our ball movement was amazing,” Lower said. “We got it down to our posts and Ava had some amazing big buckets and we just all worked really well together.”
Hailey Miller had 10 points for Solon which shot 26 percent from the floor.
Clear Creek Amana 13 7 14 24 – 58
Solon 8 19 8 2 – 37
Clear Creek Amana (58) – Kaylee Stratton 0-2 1-2 1, Kiera Rogers 0-0 0-0 0, Averie Lower 5-9 1-2 13, Sam Schrage 1-5 3-3 6, Lena Evans 3-3 0-0 7, Kennedy Stratton 0-1 0-0 0, Bliss Beck 2-3 1-4 5, Ava Locklear 11-17 4-5 26, Totals 22-40 10-16 58.
Solon (37) – Kobi Lietz 1-5 0-0 3, Delainey Durr 1-4 0-0 3, Hailey Miller 4-11 0-0 10, Mia Stahle 0-2 1-2 1, Anna Quillin 0-0 0-0 0, Callie Levin 5-21 7-7 20, Totals 11-43 8-9 37.
3-point field goals – CCA 4-7 (Lower 2-5, Schrage 1-1, Evans 1-1), SOL 7-27 (Lietz 1-5, Durr 1-2, Miller 2-6, Stahle 0-2, Levin 3-12). Rebounds – CCA 31 (Locklear 12), SOL 23 (Quillin 7). Turnovers – CCA 15, SOL 16. Total fouls – CCA 10, SOL 16. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.
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