North Polk wins big against Clear Creek-Amana in the Class 4A state quarterfinals
DES MOINES —While every team is going to give their best in the state tournament, it seemed that the No. 2 North Polk Comets were on another level.
They convincingly beat the No. 7 Clear Creek Amana Clippers, 61-30, to advance to the Class 3A state semifinal round.
"The girls were locked into the game plan and were ready to play," said North Polk coach Clint Albertsen. "We had a really strong first quarter and then things snowballed from there. It was a fun night for sure."
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Their ability to force turnovers paid big dividends early in the game.
In the first quarter alone, they forced six steals and scored 16 points off of Clippers' turnovers. By comparison, the Clippers scored 8 points total in the period.
On top of that, senior guard MaKayla Boatman was shooting lights out. In the first eight minutes of the game, she had 16 points after hitting seven of her first nine shots.
Boatman said that after coming up just short of the tournament in recent years, she and the team did not want to waste their opportunity.
"We just came out knowing that we did not want to take any opportunities for granted," Boatman said. "So, doing so well defensively and letting that carry over to our offense was amazing."
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Boatman ended the game with 21 points, tied for the most in the game.
The second quarter was not much better for Clear Creek Amana as their deficit grew to as many as 26 points.
However, they ended the quarter on a 7-2 run with junior forward Ava Locklear accounting for 4 of those points.
She led the team with 16 points by the end of the afternoon.
PJ Sweeney, CCA's coach, said that his message was the same as it had been all season.
"As long as I am coaching them, I don't ever want my team to give up," Sweeney said. "I told the team to keep battling and to focus on one possession at a time. We hoped that we could force some stops and hopefully start to get some good looks on offense."
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Unfortunately for Clear Creek Amana, that was not the case as North Polk got out on another stifling run.
This time, it was senior guard Liza Schaffer who did much of the dirty work.
She scored 7 of the team's 11 points in the period, pushing her to 21 in the game.
After today's win, the Comets are headed to the state semifinals where they will face the winner between No. 3 Bishop Heelan and No. 6 Cedar Rapids Xavier on Thursday, Mar. 2 at 6:45 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: North Polk imposes their will in their Class 4A state quarterfinals win
