Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – Clear Creek Amana has some unfinished business to attend to next week in Des Moines.

On Tuesday the focus for the Clippers was a picture perfect ending for a couple of impactful seniors.

Bliss Beck and Ava Locklear combined for 35 points and 23 rebounds as Class 4A top-ranked Clear Creek Amana returned to state tournament for the second year in a row with a 68-35 win over Keokuk in the Region 1 title game in Tiffin.

“In our last game here this is just a great way to go out,” Locklear said. “We came into it knowing this is our last home game, regional final, there was a huge crowd and this is a pretty sweet ending having a great game together.”

Sophomore Averie Lower hit four 3-pointers and poured in a game-high 22 points for Clear Creek Amana but this game was all about the seniors.

Locklear had 20 points and surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career with a jumper in the lane early in the third quarter.

Beck had a double-double in the first half and finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds including seven offensive boards.

“The last four years what they’ve done for this program has just been tremendous and I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Clear Creek Amana coach PJ Sweeney said. “For Ava to get her 1,000^th point tonight, I couldn’t be more happy. They compliment each other so well, I am just so thankful they are wearing the blue and white.”

The victory gives Clear Creek Amana its first back-to-back state tournament appearances in program history.

Clear Creek Amana lost to North Polk 61-30 in the 4A quarterfinals last season and returns to Des Moines this season unbeaten at 23-0 and the top seed in the 4A bracket.

The Clippers open state tournament play on Tuesday against Gilbert (15-9) at 11:45 a.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines

“(Tonight) is just part of our goal at this point but it’s also about enjoying the moment,” Beck said. “This is the last time we will play in this gym in any sport so it’s nice to go out on a high note.”

Keokuk (19-4) trailed just 17-13 with 6:26 remaining in the first half after four consecutive points by sophomore point guard Kendra Boatman.

Clear Creek Amana took control of the game with a 20-0 run over the final 5:06 of the first half.

“I challenged them,” Sweeney said. “Defensively we were doing a lot of good things but we had to finish out the possession by boxing out and rebounding. They were getting some second chance opportunities and once we cleaned that up a little we got some baskets in transition, we got some easy opportunities.”

Beck spurred the rally, scoring seven consecutive points to push the lead to 26-13.

The 6-foot-2 senior had 11 points and seven points in the second quarter alone and by halftime had 13 points and 12 rebounds.

“Bliss had a heck of a second quarter,” Sweeney said. “We got the ball down to her on the block, she got some putbacks and the second quarter really set the tone for the rest of the game. They were never able to recover from that.”

Lower scored nine of her game-high 22 points during the 20-0 run to close the first half including the final five. ­

“We really emphasized defense in the second quarter,” Lower said. “We were getting in the passing lanes and talking a lot and we got in transition and that helped us a lot.”

The Clippers squashed any hope of a Keokuk comeback with a 6-0 burst to open the second half. Locklear had nine of her 20 points in the third quarter as Clear Creek Amana pushed the margin to 54-23.

“She had an amazing game and it was cool for her to score her 1,000^th point,” Beck said of Locklear. “She is so deserving of that and she works so hard at it day in and day out. We work on our connection but it just kind of comes because we are good friends outside of it so watching her succeed is really nice.”

Boatman had 14 points to lead Keokuk which was held to 29 percent shooting from the floor.

Lena Evans added seven points off the bench for Clear Creek Amana as the Clippers shot 48 percent for the game.

Keokuk                                   9    4   10  12  –  35   

Clear Creek Amana          15  22  17  14  –  68                         

Keokuk (35) – Makenna Altgilbers 2-6 0-0 6, Irelynn Seay 2-5 0-0 6, Makayla Altgilbers 3-10 0-0 6, Kendra Boatman 5-16 4-4 14, Camryn Atterberg 2-11 0-2 5, Totals 14-48 4-6 35.

Clear Creek Amana (68) – Kaylee Stratton 0-4 0-0 0, Averie Lower 9-15 0-0 22, Sam Schrage 1-4 0-0 2, Lena Evans 3-7 0-0 7, Melissa Sweeney 0-1 0-0 0, Kennedy Stratton 1-4 0-0 2, Bliss Beck 6-10 3-4 15, Ava Locklear 9-16 2-3 20, Totals 29-61 5-7 68.

3-point field goals – CCA 5-18 (Lower 4-10, Kay. Stratton 0-1, Schrage 0-2, Evans 1-3, Ken. Stratton 0-2), KEO 3-11 (Make. Altgilbers 2-5, Maka. Altgilbers 0-3, Boatman 0-1, Atterberg 1-2). Rebounds – CCA 38 (Beck 15), KEO 32 (Maka. Altgilbers 9). Turnovers – CCA 11, KEO 18. Total fouls – CCA 5, KEO 11. Fouled out – KEO (Seay). Technical fouls – None.

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