Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – Clear Creek Amana senior Averie Lower emerged from the locker room following Friday’s WAMAC Conference opener against Solon with rolled up gauze stopping a bloody nose.

Teammate Kennedy Stratton sported a similar look.

The Clipper backcourt may have looked a bit battered postgame but it was Lower, Stratton and teammate Lena Evans that landed the knockout blows in a physical battle with Solon.

Lower poured in a game-high 33 points and Evans and Stratton combined for 23 more as Class 4A fourth-ranked Clear Creek Amana hammered No. 12 Solon 66-42 in a WAMAC cross-divisional contest in Tiffin.

“It was a physical game for sure, we ended up with a bloody nose, a couple of them actually,” Lower said. “We knew they wanted to come out and play a physical game and we just had so much energy and we all fed off that.”

Lower scored 20 of her game-high 33 after halftime as Clear Creek Amana improved to 3-0 on the season with its second consecutive win over a ranked team.

Three days after a road win at 5A No. 8 West High the Clippers weathered an early storm from Solon to remain unbeaten in a grind-it-out fight on Friday.

“This was a different kind of grind it out win than the other night,” first-year Clear Creek Amana coach Matt Hoeppner said. “The other night (against West) we got hot early where as tonight every possession was a grind and if we are going to make the deep run we are hoping to make this year we are going to have to do that at times.”

Solon (0-1) raced to an early 12-2 lead five minutes into the game behind eight points from freshman Tenley Levin.

Clear Creek Amana had seven first-quarter turnovers against the physical man-to-man defense of the Spartans.

Clear Creek Amana had a quick counter punch.

The Clippers closed the opening quarter on an 11-0 run over the final 2:54 that featured five points from Evans and four from Lower.

“I’m generally one of those coaches that won’t take that early timeout and we had to fight through it and we did tonight,” Hoeppner said. “We were a little hyper and had some poor shot selection early but once we settled down we absorbed the pressure and started hitting some offense.”

After falling into the 12-2 deficit Clear Creek Amana outscored Solon 29-4 over the next seven plus minutes, opening the second quarter with a 18-4 run that was fueled by three Lower 3-pointers.

Clear Creek Amana forced Solon into 18 first-half turnovers and made seven of 12 field goals in the second quarter, including four 3-pointers.

“As the game went on we got better and better and the more we pressured them the more steals we got and it led to offense,” Lower said. “The more we played the better we got.”

Leading 43-36 Lower beat the third quarter buzzer with a pull-up 3-pointer to give the Clippers a 46-36 lead.

Solon never got closer than eight points the rest of the way as Clear Creek Amana held the Spartans to four points over the final seven minutes of the game.

“It’s a testament to how they’ve bought in on defense,” Hoeppner said. “That really showed tonight and we turned that defense into offense.”

Lower had a double-double grabbing 14 rebounds while Evans had 16 points and five rebounds.

Stratton and freshman Lydia Keller each had seven points for the Clippers.

“I love the side she showed tonight,” Hoeppner said. “She did that but she also went ahead and hit a big three when we needed it in the second half and she took control as a point guard and slowed our offense down and got us good shots. Gritty efforts on her part.”

Levin led Solon with 16 points and senior Delainey Durr had 11 points.

Solon                                      12   9   15   6   –  42

Clear Creek Amana           13  18  15  20  –  66

Solon (42) – Delainey Durr 4-5 1-2 11, Quinn Armentrout 1-7 1-2 3, Laney Johnson 1-4 0-0 3, Laeni Hinkle 0-4 1-2 1, Sophia Link 2-3 0-0 4, Tenley Levin 6-13 4-8 16, Jerzey Haluska 2-5 0-0 4, Totals 16-41 7-14 42.

Clear Creek Amana (66) – Kendyl Malli 0-0 1-2 1, Averie Lower 11-24 9-10 33, Lena Evans 4-15 6-6 16, Kennedy Stratton 3-6 0-0 7, Brooklyn Lee 0-1 0-0 0, Lydia Keller 3-7 0-0 7, Bailey Simpson 1-1 0-0 2, Totals 22-53 15-16 66.

3-point field goal – CCA 7-25 (Lower 3-12, Evans 2-6, Stratton 1-2, Lee 0-1, Keller 1-4), SOL 3-13 (Durr 2-3, Johnson 1-3, Hinkle 0-4, Levin 0-3). Rebounds – CCA 35 (Lower 14), SOL 23 (Armentrout 6). Turnovers – CCA 24, SOL 27. Total fouls – CCA 12, SOL 14. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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