BATTLE GROUND — It was a battle Tuesday night, a defensive struggle, a physical match-up between the top two girls basketball teams from the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League.
No blood was spilled during the game, though.
Nope, it did not get bloody until after the game, during Skyview’s celebration.
And the person who was doing the bleeding, well, she was still all smiles.
Ashlee Comastro, the league’s MVP, scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds, leading Skyview to a 40-31 victory over Camas in the 4A District 4 tournament championship game.
Skyview will host a District 2 team at 7 p.m. Saturday in a one-game playoff to reach the state regional round. Camas, as the No. 2 seed from District 4, will travel to face a District 2 squad.
As she was cutting down the net, Comastro also cut herself. It was a second or two of fear from the coaches, but Comastro said it was minor. Just looked bad because of the blood.
Nothing was going to get in her way of celebrating with the Storm.
“We definitely played together as a team. We started from the beginning playing really, really hard,” Comastro said of the defensive gameplan. “We knew we wanted to win this district championship.”
Camas would take a three-point lead late in the third quarter, but that just fueled the Storm even more. Skyview finished the period on a 9-0 run and would make it a 13-1 stretch into the fourth quarter to win the title.
Comastro and senior post Maddie Lord scored the next Skyview 15 points after Camas took a 19-16 lead.
“I knew eventually we would push through it,” said Lord, who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. “We did have a little brain-fart, but we got over it.”
“I wasn’t concerned,” Comastro said. “I had faith in our team. I knew we’d pull it out in the end. I wasn’t concerned, but Camas did play very hard.”
The Papermakers had their own rough patches to overcome. For starters, the team scored one point in the first quarter. It was a testament to Camas’ defense that the team trailed by only four points at halftime.
Emma Jones and Meghan Finley each made 3-pointers early in the third for Camas. Another basket from Jones made it 19-16 for Camas, looking to beat Skyview for the first time this season after two losses in league play.
“We bend, but we don’t break,” Skyview coach Jennifer Buscher said. “It was kind of a character test for us. Are we going to answer, or are we not? That says a lot about our team. They believe in each other.”
The Storm pushed the lead to nine points early in the fourth quarter. Camas’ Haley Hanson’s hit a 3-pointer to get Camas within five points at the 2-minute mark, but the Storm made their free throws down the stretch to avoid much drama.
Hanson led Camas with 13 points.
Skyview’s defense has brought the program another district crown, and the Storm earned another net-cutting ceremony.
“They gave me a half-inch box-cutter knife,” Comastro said, referring to her miscue. “I didn’t even know I did it.”
Then she showed off her piece of the net, with blood on it.
“Look at that,” she said. “That’s a memory, isn’t it?”
SKYVIEW 40, CAMAS 31
CAMAS — Meghan Finley 6, Jordyn Wilds 0, Haley Hanson 13, Emma Jones 7, Madison Freemon 0, Stephanie Knight 1, Teague Schroeder 0, Courtney Clemmer 4. Totals 10 (6) 5-9 31.
SKYVIEW — Riley Friauf 8, Sydney Friauf 2, Hanna VanNortwick 4, Remi Riley 0, Kirsten Johnson 0, Ashlee Comastro 16, Maddie Lord 10. Totals 13 (0) 14-20 40.
Camas 1 9 9 12–31
Skyview 6 8 11 15–40
