Flawless fourth: Clear Creek Amana sprints away from Solon, 58-37

SOLON — Bottle that, Clippers. That was 10 minutes of flawless.

Ava Locklear scored 20 of her game-high 26 points in the second half, and Class 4A second-ranked Clear Creek Amana held 3A No. 1 Solon to 1-of-21 shooting in the same span. That combination led to the Clippers’ 58-37 Wamac Conference cross-divisional girls’ basketball triumph Tuesday night at Solon High School.

The post-halftime domination was thorough and stunning.

“Two years ago, we came over here and it was rough,” Locklear said. “We knew what we were up against. We showed what we’re capable of, and that’s very comforting to us.”

The Clippers (6-0) faced a 27-20 halftime deficit, and still trailed 34-28 when Solon star Callie Levin nailed a 3-pointer with 2:47 left in the third quarter.

From that point forward, CCA outscored the Spartans (6-1) by a 30-3 margin.

Thorough. And stunning.

“Our ball movement was amazing,” Averie Lower said. “Our 1-3-1 zone, we got our hands on the ball. We knew where we wanted to be.

“We were having so much fun. We got pretty hyped up. If we play like that, there’s not a roof on how much better we can get.”

Lena Evans answered Levin’s trey with one of her own, and that got the Clippers clicking.

CCA was within 35-34 heading to the fourth quarter. Locklear’s baseline shot opened the final period for the lead, then it was a Clippers routine of scoring and stopping, scoring and stopping.

The Clippers shot 9 of 11 from the floor in the fourth quarter; the Spartans were 0 of 11.

“We didn’t make many changes,” CCA Coach P.J. Sweeney said. “We just kept doing what we’d been doing.”

Just better.

“We made our defense lead to our offense,” Sweeney added. “We frustrated them a little bit on the defensive end, and we were very, very patient offensively. We didn’t force anything.”

Locklear made 11 of 18 shots from the floor, and also contributed 10 rebounds and four assists.

Lower added 13 points, and Evans made all three of her shots in an uplifting seven-point bonus.

For Solon, Levin had 20 points, three assists and four steals, but battled through a 5-for-20 shooting night. Hailey Miller added 10 points; nobody else scored more than three.

The Spartans got out to an 8-3 lead, but CCA scored the final 10 points of the first quarter.

Delainey Durr’s 3-pointer at the second-quarter horn gave Solon its largest lead of the game, 27-20.

But the second half belonged to the Clippers. Thoroughly, and stunningly.

Clear Creek Amana 58, Solon 37

At Solon

CLEAR CREEK AMANA (58): Kaylee Stratton 0-2 1-2 1, Averie Lower 5-9 1-2 13, Sam Schrage 1-4 3-3 6, Bliss Beck 2-3 1-4 5, Ava Locklear 11-18 4-5 26, Kennedy Stratton 0-1 0-0 0, Lena Evans 3-3 0-0 7, Kiera Rogers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-40 10-16 58.

SOLON (37): Kobi Lietz 1-6 0-0 3, Hailey Miller 4-11 0-0 10, Mia Stahle 0-2 1-2 1, Anna Quillin 0-0 0-0 0, Callie Levin 5-20 7-7 20, Delainey Durr 1-4 0-0 3, Jerzey Haluska 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 11-44 8-9 37.

Clear Creek Amana 13 7 14 24 — 58

Solon 8 19 8 2 — 37

3-point goals: CCA 4-8 (Lower 2-5, Schrage 1-1, Locklear 0-1, Evans 1-1), Solon 7-27 (Lietz 1-6, Miller 2-6, Stahle 0-2, Levin 3-11, Durr 1-2). Team fouls: CCA 10, Solon 16. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: CCA 30 (Locklear 10), Solon 24 (Miller, Quillin 6). Assists: CCA 12 (Locklear 4), Solon 7 (Levin 3). Steals: CCA 12 (Lower, Schrage, Beck 3), Solon 11 (Levin 4). Turnovers: CCA 16, Solon 17.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com