CAMAS — The champs wanted another championship, so they played like champions Tuesday night.
The Skyview girls basketball team avenged an earlier loss to Camas, leading from start to finish in a 41-31 victory over the Papermakers to tie atop the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League standings with one game to play.
If Skyview wins on Thursday, it will be the program’s seventh consecutive league title. If both Skyview (15-4, 10-1 GSHL) and Camas (15-4, 10-1) win, the two teams will share the league title, setting up a tiebreaker for the top seed to district.
All that will be determined later. First on the agenda for Skyview this week was to win this matchup with Camas.
The Storm did it with defense, swarming Camas’ post players and destroying the Papermakers on the boards. Ashlee Comastro had 10 points and 15 rebounds, Sydney Friauf had 11 boards, and Maddie Lord came off the bench to score eight and grab six rebounds.
“This was really important to us … to keep it alive,” Comastro said of the possible league title, dedicating this performance to all the former Storm players who worked so hard to get it started.
“We just gave it our best effort and didn’t stop believing in each other,” added Riley Friauf, who scored early in the fourth quarter to stop a bit of Camas momentum.
Camas won the first outing behind Nikki Corbett’s 27 points and 10 rebounds. Skyview wouldn’t let her have any breathing room this time, and Camas’ 14-game winning streak came to an end.
“Obviously Nikki Corbett is very strong in the post,” Sydney Friauf said. “We definitely knew we had to double-team her and keep finding her. We definitely had to shut her down.”
The strategy definitely worked, with Corbett finishing with two points and 11 rebounds.
Comastro started on Corbett. Sydney Friauf shifted over to help. Maddie Lord came off the bench and joined in the battle. And Riley Friauf also showed her defensive skills.
“It’s a great feeling when you play as a team and you get the win,” Comastro said.
“We played our hearts out, and we couldn’t have done it without the whole team,” Lord added.
Skyview had a 49-26 rebounding edge.
Genevieve Lo added nine points for Skyview, connecting on her team’s only 3-pointer of the night in the third quarter.
The Storm led 10-4 after the first quarter. Camas rallied to within two points by halftime. But Lord and Lo had a 7-0 spurt of their own midway through the third quarter to give Skyview a nine-point advantage.
Emma Jones led Camas with 10 points. Brenna Khaw added eight. Corbett had five blocked shots.
Courtney Clemmer scored the first four points of the fourth quarter for Camas, but Riley Friauf answered for Skyview, and Comastro — who missed her first two free throws of the game — was true on four in a row to give the Storm another cushion.
SKYVIEW 41, CAMAS 31
SKYVIEW — Hannahjoy Adams 2, Sydney Friauf 2, Genevieve Lo 9, Kirsten Johnson 0, Ashlee Comastro 10, Riley Friauf 4, Hannah Van Nortwick 6, Maddie Lord 8. Totals: 17-54 (1-4) 6-10 41.
CAMAS — Meghan Finley 1, Brenna Khaw 8, Teague Schroeder 5, Emma Jones 10, Nikki Corbett 2, Rachel Gray 1, Courtney Clemmer 4. Totals: 13-48 (1-14) 4-8 31.
Skyview 10 6 11 14—41
Camas 4 10 6 11—31
