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Camas girls miss on first try for state

Papermakers fall to Mount Rainier, try again Wednesday

By Paul Valencia, Columbian High School Sports Reporter
Published: February 27, 2010, 12:00am

The first chance to reach the Class 3A state girls basketball tournament slipped through the hands of the Camas Papermakers.

Some 33 times, in fact.

Showing nerves for the first time in weeks, the upstart Papermakers who won their first district championship last week turned the ball over 33 times Friday night in a 56-51 loss to Mount Rainier in the first round of the 3A bi-district tournament at Hudson’s Bay High School.

Mount Rainier of Des Moines advances to the semifinals of this tournament and has clinched a spot to state.

Camas will get a second chance to win a berth to state in a bi-district consolation game, 6 p.m. Wednesday against Yelm at Auburn High School.

“Barn ball,” Camas junior Melissa Williams called it. “It’s just something my dad came up with, when the ball is going crazy. I think the nerves got to us tonight. Definitely disappointing.”

Camas led by two points after three quarters then had a miserable start to the final period.

The Papermakers turned it over on their first seven possessions. They took their first shot of the quarter on the eighth possession, grabbed the offensive rebound, then turned it over again.

“We had a good game plan against this team, and we just didn’t execute,” Camas coach Kent Thomas said. “We didn’t execute because we kept giving the ball to them.”

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Marisa Blair, who scored 16 points for Mount Rainier, had a steal and bucket early in the fourth, giving the Rams the lead for good at 46-44. Mount Rainier would score the first nine points of the period for a seven-point advantage.

Katelyn Henson’s 3-pointer with 3:32 left in the game got Camas back to within four points, and her two free throws with 47 seconds left made it a three-point game. But the Papermakers never had the ball trailing by three or less in those closing minutes.

Williams finished with a team-high 16 points. She also had nine rebounds. Henson added 15 points, and Kayla Roche was a force with 11 rebounds and added nine point for Camas.

Maylynn Mitchell made four 3-pointers en route to 16 points for the Rams. She and Blair each had five steals, as well.

While the Papermakers would have preferred to have made it to state Friday, they know they are not done.

“They’re district champions, and they earned that championship,” Thomas said of his players. “Therefore, they earned the right to play again on Wednesday and win and still reach their goal.”

Williams said she and her teammates need to prepare for this next game like they did for the district title game.

“We need to treat every team we play like we’re playing against Prairie,” she said. “If we do that, I don’t think we’ll be feeling like this again.”

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Columbian High School Sports Reporter