TACOMA — Of all the basketball memories Addison Harris has in her memory bank, the bi-district semifinal win three weeks ago over Sumner remains fresh.
Yes, Camas won the game on its way to capturing the bi-district title as one of the now-17 victories against Washington teams this season, but the stiff defense from ninth grader Kawehi Borden drove Harris to late-night film watching and fine-tuning her craft in the gym. She was held to 10 points.
“The motivating factor was she got the best of me,” Harris said. “Her tough defense. … I was able to learn a lot and what I can do better to improve myself.
“And I got better from that experience.”
It showed Friday in the teams’ 4A state semifinal game for their second meeting in three weeks. Those results — a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds, plus four steals over 30 minutes — helped the Papermakers back to the Class 4A state championship game after a 60-48 tough-it-out semifinal win over the Spartans.
For a second straight year, Camas (21-6) will play in the Class 4A state championship game. It faces Gonzaga Prep, which topped Davis, 67-60, in Friday’s other semifinal. It’s a rematch of last weekend’s Opening Round game at Battle Ground, which Camas won, 53-31.
After falling to Eastlake in last year’s title game, point guard Keirra Thompson said she and her teammates don’t take for granted the opportunity to get back to the title game. Tip-off of Saturday’s title game is 5 p.m. at the Tacoma Dome.
“It’s amazing,” said Thompson, who added 17 points and eight assists. “We’ve been working for this for a full year. Every single practice, every single drill, we go in with that mindset to get to this moment, and the fact that it’s here is really cool.”
In order to get there, it was far from Thursday’s 64-23 quarterfinal win over Tahoma when Camas reached a running-clock game inside 4 minutes left in the third quarter. Friday, it was a grind-it-out game for all 32 minutes against a familiar opponent from bi-districts.
In fact, momentum sat with the Spartans not only with a 26-25 halftime lead, but also 11 first-half points by Olivia Collins (game-high 24 points). Her foul-line extend 3-pointer just shy of the halftime buzzer sounded gave the Spartans the slim one-point advantage.
But Harris, a 6-foot-2 forward, showed Friday why she’s the three-time 4A Greater St. Helens League MVP. Perhaps Thompson said it best when speaking about her teammate that years ago earned the nickname Red Dragon.
“When in doubt,” Thompson said, “feed the ball to the Red Dragon.”
Harris began the second half scoring six straight Camas points that eventually gave the Papermakers the lead for good at 31-29. Then, Thompson hit her only 3-pointer of the second half to start the fourth quarter that gave the Papermakers a 46-37 advantage after Sumner cut the deficit to four.
The next six Camas points came courtesy of Harris. Nine of her 10 field goals Friday came inside the paint. She finished 10 of 16 shooting, and five of her rebounds came on the offensive glass.
A far different offensive output from three weeks ago, and credit goes to the Spartans, Camas coach Scott Thompson said. He also knew that Friday, just like three weeks ago, would be just as hard of a game, given Sumner’s recent track of success.
“You just have to pack a lunch if you’re going to play them,” he said.
For Camas, Riley Sanz added nine points and six rebounds, and Reagan Jamison chipped in nine rebounds. Camas outrebounded Sumner 41-29.
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CAMAS 60, SUMNER 48
SUMNER — Madison Hughes 0, Kessa Nohr 3, Kawehi Borden 4, Adriana Perez 3, Olivia Collins 24, Lainee Houillon 9, Parker Gould 2, Leeschelle Sohappy 3. Totals 16 (9) 7-12 48.
CAMAS — Reagan Jamison 2, Kendall Mairs 3, Riley Sanz 9, Sophie Buzzard 5, Parker Mairs 3, Lauren Hood 0, Addison Harris 21, Keirra Thompson 17. Totals 22 (7) 9-10 60.
Sumner 10 16 11 11 – 48
Camas 15 10 18 17 – 60
