UNIVERSITY PLACE — The Camas girls basketball team made history on Saturday night.
Addison Harris had 22 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Papermakers to 60-31 win over Tahoma to capture the first bi-district basketball championship in school history.
“We’re on a goal to peak by the end of the state tournament,” Harris said. “So we just go with the mindset of getting better every single day. And this district championship was really important for us. It’s the first time it’s been done in history – girls or boys basketball at Camas.”
That’s right. With all the good basketball teams Camas has had over the year, the Papermakers have never cut down the nets at the West Central bi-district tournament.
That is, until Saturday night.
“This district has always been really tough,” Camas coach Scott Thompson said. “So to get this win feels really good.”
Tahoma gave the Papermakers its best shot early. Lauryn Fredrickson’s 3-point early in the second quarter put Tahoma up 14-13.
Then the Papermakers finished the half with 13 consecutive points.
“We found Addie,” Thompson said. “She played really well in the second quarter. She played well the entire game. You know, their zone is tricky and they put a lot of attention on her.”
Harris said slow starts have been common for Camas this season, until the Papermakers start to make adjustments.
“Teams come out really tough (against us),” Harris said. “They punch hard. We just have to outlast that, weather that storm and keep playing our game for the long run.”
One key adjustment was to put Riley Sanz at point guard, which allowed Keirra Thompson find other ways to get Harris the ball inside.
“Addie just kind of went off,” Thompson said. “And they were so worried about Addie that it opened up people all around. People were just knocking down shots.”
Camas’ depth was tested a bit Saturday. Forward Kendall Mairs had an excused absence for a volleyball tournament this weekend, then Kendall Bachelder left the game in the second quarter with an injury.
“That put players in positions that they haven’t been in this year,” Thompson said. “In a way, that was kind of fun, especially when you watch go out there and do their thing and do a good job.”
Tahoma hit some shots early in the third quarter to get within six points. But then Camas went on a 19-0 run to seal the victory.
“Our second-half energy was way up,” said Thompson, who finished with 11 points. “We just came out swinging. We matched their energy, and we were hitting shots. And we were all playing really hard on defense. Parker (Mairs) and Riley (Sanz) did a really good job of shutting down their point guard, and that flowed into the offense.”
Now the Papermakers (21-3), who are undefeated against teams from Washington, await their seeding on Sunday. But it’s difficult to imagine Camas not playing close to home in the opening round of state next weekend.
“Now, I think we’re just locked in, ready for our regional matchup,” Thompson said. “And we’ve got a lot of time to prepare for it.”
CAMAS 60, TAHOMA 31
CAMAS — Sophie Buzzard 4, Parker Mairs 9, Addison Harris 22, Riley Sanz 7, Keirra Thompson 11, Kendall Bachelder 2, Brianna Forbess 2, Baylie Farra 3, Marta Biasiolo 0. Totals 20-39 (6-14) 14-20 60.
TAHOMA — Brooke Deyak 0, Hope Hassmann 7, Bailey Nettleton 2, Gracyn Meyer 0, Lauryn Fredrickson 12, Angelina Cavanaugh 0, Lily Cavanaugh 7, Kate Wooten 3, Amelie Sitterud 0, Abby Knutson 0, Madison Holtz 0, Addy Hansen 0. Totals 11-47 (5-25) 4-6 31.
Camas 10 16 16 18—60
Tahoma 9 5 11 6—31
