CAMAS — The Camas girls felt prepared for almost anything.
Any defense that might be thrown at them, any press and—mostly—any in-game adjustments.
But the Papermakers didn’t prepare for the biggest component of their offense and defense, 4A Greater St. Helens League Player of the Year Courtney Clemmer, to go down with an injury 30 seconds into their playoff campaign.
And it forced Camas to spend much of its first round bi-district game scrambling. The Papermakers turned to a rotation of bigs, relied on forcing turnovers late and hit key foul shots to escape North Puget Sound League opponent Hazen 45-41 on Thursday night to advance to the bi-district quarterfinals.
“We struggled to score without her,” Camas coach Scott Preuninger said. “Defensively we’re just a different team when she’s not on the floor. The nice thing is that we were able to pull off the win without her, but we’re fortunate.”
Clemmer injured her back tracking on a fast break less than a minute into the game, and exited for the remainder.
In the first half, it looked like the Papermakers might cruise without her.
Camas outscored Hazen 13-6 in the second quarter and took a three-point lead into halftime.
Hazen responded with a quick 6-0 run early in the third quarter, but Camas struck back immediately. Brooklyn Pascua hit a 3-pointer, Marianna Payne finished a contested layup then Faith Bergstrom scored in the post to push Camas up to a game-high 13 points, prompting Hazen to take a timeout with 2:20 left in the third.
The Papermakers scored once again out of the timeout, but were held without a point until less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter—part of a 17-4 Hazen run that tied the game at 38 apiece with just over a minute to play.
“It hit us before we knew it,” Camas guard Jillian Webb said. “We didn’t see it coming and when it happened we were like, ‘oh, shoot it’s really close.’ ”
How did Camas break out of the scoring rut?
“Keep attacking, keep shooting,” guard Brooklyn Pascua said. “Sooner or later it was going to go in.”
Sharaya Coe scored the tying basket on a fast break. She scored a game-high 18 points, and for much of the night, the Papermakers did not have an answer for her.
Payne sunk two free throws with 1:05 remaining to go ahead two points. Hazen responded by scoring with 40 second left.
THe Hilanders had the ball with 19.7 seconds left, ran a play, but Webb intercepted a pass inside with four seconds left, took the ball the length of the floor but didn’t get a shot off before the buzzer.
“I didn’t even know the clock was running down,” she said.
Toward the end of regulation and for overtime, Camas turned to its defense.
“We had some decent looks, but bottom line is we got enough stops, rebounded a little better toward the end,” Preuninger said.
In overtime neither team scored until Payne dropped in a crafty finish to put Camas ahead two with 40 second left. Then Jordyn Wild hit a pair of free throws and Webb sealed the game by hitting a shot at the line to make it a two-possession game with 1.9 seconds left.
Camas finished with 24 offensive board opposite 19 defensive boards. It had 19 steals as a team, but 17 turnovers.
Now the Papermakers have one day to prepare for a bi-district quarterfinal game without Clemmer. Camas faces Rogers-Puyallup at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma, a team that lost to Prairie by two.
“We’ve got one day to figure some things out,” Preuninger said. “We will. We’ve been amking adjustments since day-one. I think this woke us up a little bit.”
