Papermakers take care of that unfinished business with a 57-41 win over Gonzaga Prep in Saturday’s championship game at the Tacoma Dome
Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com
In what became a coronation more than a championship game, the Camas Papermakers cruised to their biggest victory in program history Saturday evening in the Tacoma Dome.
A year ago, these Papermakers were stunned in the finals, settling for second place at the Class 4A girls basketball state tournament.
They vowed to return.
More determined.
Better than ever.
Prepared to dominate.
They called this the season of Unfinished Business.
Another saying they picked up: We didn’t come this far to only go this far.
This was going to be their year. Period.
Then they left no doubt in the Tacoma Dome.
Saturday, they finished that business with a 57-41 victory over Gonzaga Prep of Spokane. Reagan Jamison led Camas with 17 points and seven rebounds and Addison Harris added 12 points and eight rebounds as the Papermakers took what they felt they earned with an incredibly difficult schedule designed to get them through this week in Tacoma. Camas’ six losses this season were all to teams outside the state of Washington.
“It feels like we’re finally finished,’’ Camas coach Scott Thompson said in an interview with NFHS immediately after the game. “These girls deserve every bit of this. I feel losing the state championship game last year might have won us this one. At this point, it’s a storybook ending. This team has been so connected. The chemistry has been off the charts. I can’t tell you what it’s been like to coach these girls.’’
Keirra Thompson, the coach’s daughter and the team’s junior point guard, added nine points and six assists Saturday.
“We’ve been playing with each other since the fifth grade,’’ Keirra Thompson told NFHS. “We’ve played together for so long it’s become easy for us, natural for us. I couldn’t be any happier. Everything for the past year has been leading to this day and we didn’t disappoint. This is so special, especially coming off last year, losing in the championship game, it drove us to work so hard.’’
“I love this team,’’ said Jamison, who scored 15 of her team-high 17 points in the first half. “I couldn’t be happier. I’m just speechless.’’
Gonzaga Prep scored the first six points of the game Saturday but Camas responded with a 29-3 run that put the Papermakers in full control of the championship game. Camas held the Bullpups to just 2-for-13 shooting from the field in the first quarter, which ended with the Papermakers ahead 20-6.
The Papermakers extended that lead to 39-17 at halftime as seven different Camas players scored in the first half. Jamison made seven of her 11 shots from the field in the first half.
Camas came out of the locker room a little flat in the third quarter. Gonzaga Prep cut the Papermakers’ 22-point halftime lead to 12 at 43-31. After a Camas timeout, Kierra Thompson hit a 3-pointer and Jamison followed with a pair of free throws to give the Papermakers a 48-31 lead. The Bullpups scored the final four points of the third quarter to make the score 48-35 heading in the final eight minutes of play.
Camas made just three of its first 21 shots in the second half. But, Parker Mairs converted an acrobatic layup and Riley Sanz then added a 3-pointer with 2:09 remaining in the game to push the Papermakers’ lead back to 15 at 53-38.
Just how competitive were these Papermakers? They beat Gonzaga Prep by 22 points a week ago in the state regionals, but they wanted to play them again in the finals because they didn’t feel like they played their best.
Well, the Papermakers are the best now.
They won four state tournament games — including three in the Tacoma Dome — by 22, 39, 13, and 16 points.
That frustration from last year? It turned into elation this year.
They posed with the trophy. They cut down the nets. They added their name as the lone survivor on the championship bracket.
It was their moment.
The Camas program had been progressing to this moment for years. The Papermakers had made it to the state tournament every year from 2017 through 2020. This year’s seniors were freshmen during the abbreviated season, in 2021, with no state tournament.
In the last three seasons, the Papermakers finished fourth, second, and now first.
Clark County Today will have extensive coverage of the team’s championship — the first basketball state championship in school history — including a video with game highlights, celebratory moments, and more in the coming days.
Clark County Today Editor Ken Vance contributed to this report.
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