Mougin hits a winner for CCA

MARION - A series of close losses had stung Clear Creek Amana. Doubt followed.

'We started to wonder how we're going to lose,” said Coach P.J. Sweeney. 'What was going to go wrong this time?”

This time, nothing. This time, Hannah Mougin went right.

Mougin stuck a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left in overtime - her first points of the game - then followed with a steal as CCA outlasted Marion, 58-56, in a Wamac Conference West Division girls' basketball thriller Tuesday night at Marion High School.

'We just stuck together and played team ball,” said Mougin, a member of the Clippers' all-senior starting lineup. 'I had missed my last two shots, but I forgot about them and thought the next one would go in.”

And it did, enabling the Clippers (3-4 overall, 2-1 Wamac West) to survive a 19-of-36 free-throw outing, one in which they made their first 10.

Kiley Seelman did hit two clutch foul shots with 6 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 52-all, then Marion's Chloe Rice missed a runner at the buzzer.

Rice was spectacular in defeat for the Indians (5-2, 2-1), scoring 28 points.

'She played extremely well,” said Marion Coach Corby Laube. 'She hit big shot after big shot. She kept us in it.

'But we got down 13 points early. You can dissect every play late in the game. But we weren't tough minded defensively at the beginning.”

Rice hit two free throws to tie the game at 54-54 with 2:10 left in overtime, then added a jumper to put Marion up two with 59 seconds remaining.

Then, after the teams traded free-throw misses, Mougin hit the winner.

'You try to run a good (offensive) set in that situation, but sets run down sometimes and you have to find a way to make a play,” Sweeney said.

After Mougin's steal, Kelsey Hall made one of two free throws to put the Clippers up two with 3.2 seconds left. Marion's Mia Laube got the inbounds pass, streaked up the court and got a quality look from about 8 feet away that hit the backboard, the rim, then fell away as Marion's four-game winning streak came to an end.

Laube, a freshman classmate of Rice, added 11 points for the Indians.

Hanna Stokes led the Clippers with 14 points and nine rebounds. Lexi Kinnaird and Emily Wieland added 13 points apiece.

CCA hit 6 of its first 7 shots for an early 18-5 lead, and maintained a 36-29 halftime advantage.

Marion controlled the third quarter and took its first lead at 43-41 on Rice's three-point play, then it was back and forth the rest of the way.

Three of the Clippers' four losses were decided by eight points or less, including an overtime defeat against Center Point-Urbana on Friday.

CLEAR CREEK AMANA 58, MARION 56 (OT)

At Marion

CLEAR CREEK AMANA (58): Hannah Mougin 1-4 0-0 3, Hanna Stokes 5-8 4-10 14, Lexi Kinnaird 3-11 6-10 13, Emily Wieland 5-10 2-2 13, Kiley Seelman 3-6 2-4 8, Kelsey Hall 1-3 5-8 7, Megan Hall 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 18-43 19-36 58.

MARION (56): Chloe Rice 10-16 7-7 28, Amanda Sahm 2-6 4-4 8, Michalyn Mohr 2-7 1-4 5, Mia Laube 5-13 1-4 11, Tessa Jordan 1-4 0-0 2, Caitlyn Smith 0-3 0-0 0, Isabella Sade 0-1 0-0 0, Dani Dunne 1-2 0-0 2, Jozee Peyton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-52 13-19 56.

Halftime: CCA 36, Marion 29. End of regulation: 52-52. 3-point goals: CCA 3-13 (Mougin 1-3, Stokes 0-1, Kinnaird 1-4, Wieland 1-2, Seelman 0-3), Marion 1-10 (Rice 1-2, Sahm 0-1, Laube 0-2, Jordan 0-2, Smith 0-3). Team fouls: CCA 14, Marion 23. Fouled out: Sahm. Rebounds: CCA 34 (Stokes 9), Marion 33 (Mohr 10). Assists: CCA 7 (Stokes, Wieland 3), Marion 4 (four with 1). Steals: CCA 5 (five with 1), Marion 5 (Sahm, Laube 2). Turnovers: CCA 15, Marion 15.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com