Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – A year ago Clear Creek Amana was on the wrong end of a first-quarter blitz in a quarterfinal loss to second-ranked North Polk.

In its return to the Class 4A state tournament on Tuesday it was the Clippers that did the blitzing.

Top-ranked Clear Creek Amana raced to a 22-9 first quarter lead and rolled to a 68-30 win over Gilbert (15-10) in a Class 4A quarterfinal at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“We knew how it felt last year and we didn’t want to feel that again,” Clear Creek Amana senior Sam Schrage said. “They were basically a mirror image of us last year, they started four juniors and a freshman and they hadn’t been here recently so I think our experience helped a lot and we wanted to go out and dominate.”

A year ago Clear Creek Amana fell into a 26-8 hole after the opening quarter and trailed 42-16 at the half in what ended as a 61-30 loss to eventual runner-up North Polk.

One day shy of a year later Clear Creek Amana orchestrated it’s own early-game blitz on Tuesday.

Clear Creek Amana (24-0) closed the first quarter on a 16-4 run and never let Gilbert get comfortable while earning the first state-tournament win in program history.

Clear Creek Amana will get a rematch with North Polk in the 4A semifinals on Thursday at 5 p.m.

“We came here for three games,” Sweeney said. “We came here for three games and this is just one of those games. Thursday is going to be a tough battle but this group is ready and I can’t wait.”

Clear Creek Amana was dominant from the opening tip.

Senior Ava Locklear finished an assist shy of a triple-double, ending with 14 points, 17 rebound and nine assists to go with five steals and three blocked shots.

“My coaches were telling me I was close,” Locklear said of the triple-double. “I was hoping for one more assist but it is what it is. I was really happy with everyone else’s performances too.”

Clear Creek Amana had four players in double figures, shot 55 percent from the floor, outrebounded Gilbert 41-17 and had 19 assists on 29 made field goals.

“We are definitely not satisfied we want to keep going,” Locklear said. “We are super excited to keep going and hopefully we can end up here on Saturday too and we have the drive to keep going and not be satisfied because we saw what happened last year when we celebrated just being at state.”

Clear Creek Amana got rolling early.

The Clippers turned 12 first-half Gilbert turnovers into 14 points while building a 41-20 halftime edge that was never challenged.

Schrage had 10 of her 12 points in the first half while Bliss Beck had 12 of her 16 points before halftime on 6-of-7 shooting.

“We know it’s not easy being the new team here so it’s nice to be on the other end of that,” Beck said. “It’s nice to get our feet under us.”

Sophomore Averie Lower finished with a game-high 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Clear Creek Amana.

Beck had 16 points and five boards.

Clear Creek Amana limited Gilbert to 30 points on 24 percent shooting and forced the Tigers into 22 turnovers in the game.

Gilbert was just 1-of-20 from 3-point range.

“Our defensive pressure in that first quarter was really important for us in setting the tone for the game,” Sweeney said. “We are a very aggressive defensive team in the half court and I think you saw that. Defensively we were pretty locked in.”

Gilbert                                     9   11   5    5  –  30

Clear Creek Amana           22  19  11  16 –  68                                      

Gilbert (30) – Abby Patel 1-4 4-4 6, Mia Kautman 5-9 1-1 11, Callie Hales 0-0 2-6 2, Mollie Schnormeier 1-5 0-0 2, Ella Henningsen 3-12 0-2 7, Katie Sniezek 0-6 0-0 0, Kayla Rash 1-4 0-1 2, Adalyn Gauck 0-2 0-0 0, Kennady Hansen 0-1 0-0 0, Kaylin Richards 0-1 0-0 0, Greta Platts 0-1 0-0 0, Olivia Timmermans, 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 11-46 7-13 30.

Clear Creek Amana (68) – Kaylee Stratton 0-1 0-0 0, Averie Lower 6-11 0-0 17, Sam Schrage 6-7 0-0 12, Bliss Beck 8-11 0-0 16, Ava Locklear 7-13 0-0 17, Lena Evans 0-6 3-6 3, Kiera Rogers 0-0 2-4 2, Melissa Sweeney 0-1 0-0 0, Kennedy Stratton 2-3 0-0 4, Totals 29-53 5-10 68.

3-point field goals – CCA 5-15 (Lower 5-8, Schrage 0-1, Evans 0-4, Sweeney 0-1, Ken. Stratton 0-1), GIL 1-20 (Patel 0-2, Kautman 0-3, Schnormeier 0-, Henningsen 1-5, Sniezek 0-4, Rash 0-1, Gauck 0-1, Richards 0-1). Rebounds – CCA 41 (Locklear 17), GIL 23 (Henningsen 6). Assists – CCA 19 (Locklear 9), GIL 3 (Hales 1, Henningsen 1, Sniezek 1). Turnovers – CCA 18, gil 22. Total fouls – CCA 13, GIL 9. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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