Clear Creek Amana whips Iowa City West on the glass, at the line

IOWA CITY — Plus-14 on the glass. Plus-13 at the line.

Clear Creek Amana controlled two crucial facets of the game, and a late run enabled the Class 4A second-ranked Clippers to pull away from Iowa City West, 57-45, in a non-conference girls’ basketball game Tuesday night at West High School.

“We tried to stay up on them. We didn’t want to give them any 3-pointers to get the momentum going,” Bliss Beck said after the Clippers improved to 2-0.

Elle Barnett’s 3-pointer got West (0-2) within 49-45 with 5:05 to go, but the Trojans didn’t score again.

“We had to challenge the team a little bit,” CCA Coach P.J. Sweeney said. “They weren’t hurting us with the dribble drive. It was more of from the perimeter. We just had to get in a hand in their face, box out and make everything difficult.”

A senior headed to Drake University to play volleyball, Beck registered 21 points and nine rebounds. Ava Locklear added 16 points and 10 boards.

CCA enjoyed a 37-23 rebounding advantage.

“They were guarding Averie (Lower) really tight, and when teams do that, it leaves Ava and me more open,” said Beck, who converted 9 of 12 field-goal tries. “A lot of teams don’t have the height to guard both of us.”

Lower added 10 points, six rebounds and five steals.

The Clippers were 14 of 19 from the free throw line; West was 1 of 4.

West enjoyed a five-point lead on three occasions in the second quarter, the last at 22-17.

But CCA began to assert itself on the glass at both ends. An 8-0 run put the Clippers in front, 25-22. It was 28-26 at the half.

Lucy Wolf’s steal and layup knotted it at 30-30, but CCA led the rest of the way.

The Clippers held a 46-39 advantage after three quarters, then shut the Trojans out after Barnett’s trey cut it to four.

Back-to-back Beck buckets extended the lead to 53-45, then Locklear’s turnaround made it a 10-point game with 1:15 to go.

Grace Fincham led West with 17 points. Sasha Baldwin added 14. Both hit three 3-pointers.

BOYS: IOWA CITY WEST 85, CLEAR CREEK AMANA 56

Leading by just six points at halftime, West piled up 50 points in the second half and pulled away.

Jack McCaffery led the Trojans with 22 points.

Clear Creek Amana 57, Iowa City West 45

At Iowa City West

CLEAR CREEK AMANA (57): Kaylee Stratton 0-6 0-0 0, Averie Lower 3-8 3-3 10, Sam Schrage 1-3 1-4 3, Bliss Beck 9-12 3-4 21, Ava Locklear 6-13 4-4 16, Lena Evans 1-2 1-2 3, Kennedy Stratton 1-1 0-0 2, Kiera Rogers 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 21-45 14-19 57.

IOWA CITY WEST (45): Lucy Wolf 3-12 0-0 7, Ava Frese 0-1 0-0 0, Kate Van Waning 1-5 0-0 2, Elle Barnett 1-5 0-0 3, Grace Fincham 7-17 0-2 17, Sasha Baldwin 5-8 1-2 14, Alyson Skala 1-2 0-0 2, Abby Neumiller 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-51 1-4 45.

Clear Creek Amana 12 16 18 11 — 57

Iowa City West 15 11 13 6 — 45

3-point goals: CCA 1-9 (Kay. Stratton 0-2, Lower 1-4, Schrage 0-2, Locklear 0-1), West 8-26 (Wolf 1-5, Van Waning 0-2, Barnett 1-5, Fincham 3-7, Baldwin 3-6, Neumiller 0-1). Team fouls: CCA 10, West 15. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: CCA 37 (Locklear 10), West 23 (Van Waning, Fincham 5). Assists: CCA 9 (Schrage, Beck, Locklear 2), West 9 (Barnett, Fincham, Baldwin 2). Steals: CCA 11 (Lower 5), West 8 (Frese, Fincham, Skala 2). Turnovers: CCA 17, West 16.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com