TACOMA — The long-awaited moment arrived at last on Saturday night — the final buzzer sounded, the crowd roared, and the No. 1 Camas (22-6) girls basketball team rushed the court in exultant joy to celebrate the first state title in program history.
The Papermakers claimed the championship with a 57-41 victory at the Tacoma Dome over No. 8 Gonzaga Prep (22-7) in the Class 4A finals. After falling to Eastlake in last year’s championship game, this was a moment for the Papermakers to savor.
“I think that losing last year might have won the championship for us this year,” Camas coach Scott Thompson said. “If you saw their motivation in the offseason and how hard they worked every single day we stepped on the court, it just continued to make us better and better and better.”
Camas did almost everything right in the first half. The Papermakers shot 45.2% from the field in the first half and forced 13 turnovers, while Gonzaga Prep shot just 17.6%.
The Bullpups scored the first six points of the game, but Camas responded with a 20-0 run that gave the Papermakers a commanding 12-point lead at the end of the first. Camas continued to roll in the second, adding 19 points while the defense held the Bullpups to nine to go into halftime up 39-17.
But things changed in the second half, as Gonzaga Prep came out with a new energy. Aylah Cornwall added a quick 10 points, the Bullpups’ shooting improved dramatically, and Camas’ lead was down to 13 at the start of the fourth.
The Papermakers recovered in the fourth by holding Gonzaga Prep to just six points, and after Camas senior Riley Sanz hit a three-pointer with just over two minutes left to boost the lead to 15, the Papermakers ran out the clock on their biggest win ever.
Senior Reagan Jamison led Camas with 17 points, while Addison Harris had 12 points, and Sanz added 10.
Cornwall had a team-high 19 points for the Bullpups.
One thing that makes the win extra special for Thompson is that the entire team grew up together — all going to elementary school and playing ball as kids in Camas.
“For these girls to be connected at such a young age, grow up together, find the love of basketball together and get to work and be able to hold that gold ball up at the end of this thing, it’s pretty surreal,” Thompson said.
After last year’s heartbreak, the Papermakers knew they had unfinished business at the Dome. Now they’ve completed their quest, and the title trophy will make the near-150 mile journey home with them.
“We wanted it so bad,” Jamison said. “Our motto going into the whole season was ‘unfinished.’ Obviously we fell short last year, but we were confident this year. We’ve been here before. We knew we were going to get it.”
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