Clear Creek-Amana had never won a state tournament game before this season. Now, the Clippers have won the whole thing.
All-tournament captain Ava Locklear put up numbers in every area and the Clippers played outstanding defense throughout in defeating Waverly-Shell Rock 43-25 to win the Class 4A state championship. The Clippers emerged with the title in a matchup of two unbeaten teams playing in the state finals for the first time.
Locklear grabbed 19 rebounds to tie the 4A single-game record, scored 11 points, handed out three assists and blocked four shots. The 5-foot-11 senior came within one assist of a triple-double in a quarterfinal victory over Gilbert and just kept filling the stat sheet after that.
Locklear finished the tournament with a record 43 rebounds. North Scott’s Grace Boffeli, now playing at Northern Iowa, set the old record of 40 in 2020. Locklear shares the single-game record with Harlan’s Jess Schaben, who had 19 against Cedar Rapids Xavier in 2013.
Sophomore Averie Lower led the Clippers with 17 points, shooting 4-for-7 from 3-point range, grabbing four rebounds and making four steals. Bliss Beck, who’ll play volleyball at Drake, had her best game of the tournament with 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting, eight rebounds and six blocks.
Along with their scoring and rebounding, Beck and Locklear were critical to the victory with their interior defense, holding Waverly-Shell Rock’s post players to a combined 4-for-29 shooting and 11 points.
Brenna Bodensteiner led the Go-Hawks with 10 points. Emma Thompson battled her way against Beck and Locklear for seven points and 10 rebounds, while Katleyn Eggena had four points and seven rebounds.
Clear Creek-Amana held Waverly-Shell Rock to seven field goals and 14 percent shooting while blocking 10 shots in all and outrebounding the Go-Hawks 40-33 in topping off a 26-0 season.
Waverly-Shell Rock, making its third appearance at state since 2020, finished 25-1.
The game was tied twice in the early going before the Clippers took control. Beck scored inside and Lower hit a 3 for a 12-7 lead after one quarter. Ahead 14-9, Clear Creek-Amana finished the first half with a 10-3 run for a 24-12 lead at the break, Beck and Locklear each contributing four points to that burst.
The Clippers held the Go-Hawks to a single field goal in building their lead to 36-18 heading into the final quarter and all that remained to be decided after that was the final score.
The defense was typical of what Clear Creek-Amana played throughout the tournament, holding its three opponents to an average of 31 points, which matched the Clippers’ figure for the season.
Eggena joined the three Clear Creek-Amana players on the all-tournament team along with Bishop Heelan freshman Melina Snoozy and North Polk’s Abby Tuttle.