BATTLE GROUND — The future took shape Wednesday night for the Camas girls basketball program.
Sparked by contributions of sophomores Lauren Hood and De’Chaiya Gentle, the Papermakers avenged two earlier losses to Union, beating the Titans 63-56 in a 4A bi-district semifinal game.
“We were a young team going into this season,” Camas coach Scott Thompson said. “I don’t feel like we’re young any more because we’ve had so much experience. But these experiences shape us into the team we are today.”
Hood provided Camas with an early spark, hitting three 3-pointers and scoring 14 of her game-high 20 points in the second quarter as Camas built a 39-25 lead.
“It was a super good feeling,” Hood said. “My teammates got me set up really well, so that was super nice. It was just our defense stepping up that got us going on offense.”
Thompson said defense is a big part of Hood’s game. But for the last month, she has developed a hot streak with her outside shooting.
“Lauren has been a consistently great player for us all season,” Thompson said. “But recently, she’s been really hot from the 3-point line. Adding to her already great defense, her already great poise and ability to handle the rock, now she’s also become a lights-out shooter.”
The hot-shooting was contagious as the Papermakers hit 11 3-pointers as a team, seven of which came in the first half.
In the second half, the Papermakers turned to their defense to fend off a second-half charge they knew was coming.
“We knew we had to keep our composure because we knew they were going to come out with everything they had,” senior Keirra Thompson said. “We were putting all of our effort onto the defensive end. So we were like ‘We gotta bear down and play some defense.’ ”
At the center of that effort was Gentle, whose eight rebounds and tough defense slowed the Titans’ comeback effort.
Union got with six at 54-48 early in the fourth quarter before a 3-pointer by Thompson put Camas back up by nine, and Union could not get any closer than seven the rest of the way.
“(Gentle) just has one of those motors that’s something you can’t teach,” Scott Thompson said. “She just goes. And that’s what she did. She went after that ball time and time again, made winning plays down the stretch, multiple offensive rebounds that allowed us to keep running that clock. I thought De’Chaiya absolutely changed the game with her effort and energy.”
Keirra Thompson finished with 16 points and six assists, and Sophie Buzzard added 12 points. Haywood led Union (20-3) with 19 points and Janessa Chatman added 14.
Camas (19-5) advances to play Auburn in the bi-district championship game on Saturday in Auburn. But more importantly, they were able wipe away the bad taste of two lopsided losses to Union earlier this season.
“I think we’ve been ready for this game ever since we played them last,” Keirra Thompson said. “I think we’ve been hoping for this game to try to get them again and know what we were going to do. So coming out in the game, we came out the best energy we’ve had.”
Scott Thompson said normally he wouldn’t want to face the same time four times in a season because both teams become so familiar with each other.
But he said the intense atmosphere both teams experienced on Wednesday will be beneficial to both squads moving forward.
“I didn’t have any problem with running this matchup a fourth time because I knew it make us better for the state tournament, regardless of win or lose,” he said. “When you play some of the best teams in the state, it brings out the best in you, and we learned a lot about ourselves today.”
Then the coach paused and added: “So bring on Game Five.”
