Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Shortly after his team won the first state tournament game in program history on Tuesday Clear Creek Amana head coach PJ Sweeney revealed that the Clippers came to Des Moines to win three games rather than one.

Top-ranked Clear Creek Amana got win number two on Thursday and got a little revenge along the way.

Clear Creek Amana survived a wild 30-second scramble at the end of the game to hold off fifth-ranked North Polk 50-48 in a Class 4A state semifinal at Wells Fargo Arena.

The win sends Clear Creek Amana (25-0) into the state title game for the first time in program history and avenges a 61-30 loss to the Comets in last year’s 4A quarterfinal.

“I put on the board 26-8 and I asked them what it meant to them and they knew exactly, it was the score of our game last year with them in the first quarter,” Sweeney said. “We came out swinging today.”

Ava Locklear had 17 points and seven rebounds and sophomore Averie Lower had 16 points and seven boards as the Clippers advance to the 4A championship game where it will face second-ranked Waverly-Shell Rock (25-0) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

“We brought up last year’s score,” Lower said. “We wanted revenge on them so bad and wanted this game so bad and we got it. We all wanted this and to be here is so amazing.”

Lower scored a transition layup with 3.5 seconds left following a wild sequence in which North Polk missed an open 3-pointer from the corner and a point-blank put back at the rim in the final 15 seconds.

“It was a scramble,” Clear Creek Amana senior Bliss Beck said of the final 30 seconds. “It was pushy, it was physical, it was nerve wracking. You are trying to do your job and you have to put trust in your teammates and it worked out.”

Clear Creek Amana trailed 28-26 at halftime but roared out of a halftime with a 10-0 run.

Locklear started the run with a bucket in the paint and Lower followed with a 3-pointer.

Senior point guard Kaylee Stratton hit a 3-pointer that pushed the lead to 34-28 with 5:57 remaining in the third quarter.

“We knew we had to keep pushing and Kaylee hit that massive three and boosted our momentum,” Locklear said. “I think that’s really what sparked us.”

Beck capped the 10-0 burst with a bucket in the paint that gave Clear Creek Amana a 36-28 lead with 5:07 to play in the third quarter.

“We came out really motivated,” Beck said. “We said we aren’t done yet. We talked about getting Averie a shot and then getting it to Ava and letting her go to work.”

North Polk (23-3) scored 28 first-half points on 39 percent shooting but struggled to get into an offensive rhythm after halftime against Clear Creek Amana’s 1-3-1 defense.

The Comets shot 22 percent from the field in the second half including just 4-of-15 from 3-point range.

“We switched to the 1-3-1 and I think that really helped us a lot because we were able to shut down their guards a little more,” Beck said. “(Abby) Tuttle is fantastic and we were able to shut her down a little better in the second half.”

Clear Creek Amana appeared to put the game out of reach when Lower buried a 3-pointer with 6:20 to play that gave the Clippers their largest lead at 47-36.

North Polk pushed back.

The Comets used a 10-0 run to close within 47-46 with 2:00 left.

Clear Creek Amana locked down defensively over the final two minutes holding North Polk to just a pair of free throws the rest of the way.

“We always knew it starts on defense, we will be just fine scoring on offense, we have such good offensive threats but we knew at halftime we had to get stops,” Locklear said. “We knew we needed to lock down.”

North Polk got 15 points each from Tuttle and freshman Campbell Schulz and had one final opportunity to tie or take the lead.

Tuttle’s three from the corner was off and Becca Aagard couldn’t convert a put back leading to a run out on the other end that ended with a Lower layup and a 50-47 Clipper advantage.

“We made just enough plays,” Sweeney said. “North Polk is just tremendous and I have a lot of respect for those guys. We just made enough plays toady.”

North Polk                             11  17   8  12  –  48

Clear Creek Amana            11  15  17  7   –  50           

North Polk (48) – Campbell Schulz 4-9 6-6 15, Abby Tuttle 5-17 4-8 15, Jada Podey 3-6 0-0 9, Becca Aagard 0-4 0-2 0, Greta Dillinger 0-6 0-0 0, Lauren Ausborn 1-2 0-0 2, Fayth Sullivan 1-1 2-3 4, Kaylee Koudelka 1-4 0-0 3, Totals 15-49 12-19 48.

Clear Creek Amana (50) – Kaylee Stratton 2-6 1-2 6, Averie Lower 5-10 3-3 16, Sam Schrage 0-0 0-2 0, Bliss Beck 2-5 1-2 5, Ava Locklear 7-15 3-4 17, Lena Evans 2-5 1-2 6, Kennedy Stratton 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 18-42 9-15 50.

3-point field goals – NP 6-20 (Schulz 1-4, Tuttle 1-6, Podey 3-6, Dillinger 0-3, Koudelka 1-1), CCA 5-10 (Kay. Stratton 1-1, Lower 3-5, Locklear 0-1, Evans 1-2, Ken. Stratton 0-1). Rebounds – NP 38 (Aagard 8), CCA 27 (Beck 10). Assists – NP 6 (Schulz 3), CCA 9 (Beck 4). Turnovers – NP 11, CCA 12. Total fouls – NP 14, CCA 15. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.