Rivalry Saturday 2024: Maquoketa 63, Clear Creek Amana 57

CEDAR RAPIDS — This was a streak-snapper, for sure.

Was this a breakthrough? A step toward the ranks of the Class 4A elite? That’s yet to be determined.

Trailing by nine points early in the third quarter, 4A seventh-ranked Maquoketa rallied, then pulled away from No. 5 Clear Creek Amana, 63-57, in the Rivalry Saturday girls’ basketball finale Saturday night at Johnson Hall.

“This was a great step for our program,” Maquoketa Coach Chad Specht said. “A great opportunity.”

A great opportunity, seized.

Aubrey Kroymann scored 20 points, Cora Widel added 15 and Hadley Ihrig provided a monumental third-quarter boost, and the Cardinals (3-0) snapped Clear Creek Amana’s 26-game win streak.

“This win, it proves a point,” Kroymann said. “Our coaches preach attitude, effort and teamwork, and at halftime, we looked at each other and thought, ‘We need all of those three things.’

“We wanted this one tonight. It means we’re right there.”

Last year’s 4A state champion, Clear Creek Amana (0-1) enjoyed a 32-24 lead at intermission, and it got to 35-26 on Brooklyn Lee’s 3-pointer early in the third quarter.

Ihrig, who scored 14 points in the Cardinals’ first two games, scored eight in the third quarter, and they took a 43-42 advantage into the fourth.

“It was just kind of luck,” said Ihrig, who finished with 10 points. “Offense isn’t really my thing.”

Maquoketa kept it rolling in the fourth period, taking its largest lead at 58-48 on Kroymann’s two free throws with 1:28 left.

The Cardinals held on despite a 3-point barrage by CCA all-stater Averie Lower, who hit eight of them, setting a Rivalry Saturday all-time record.

Lower led all scorers with 27 points.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com