Camas suffered its first loss of the season Friday night, but senior leaders Keirra Thompson and Sophie Buzzard say the younger players are learning what it takes to play, and perform, in big games

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

They take pride in the title.

They will take the court every game this season with an impressive description: The defending state champions.

They also know this team is practically brand new.

Oh, Keirra Thompson and Sophie Buzzard are back, but there are a lot of new faces in some big roles this season.

The Camas Papermakers are champions. They hope to become champions again. But they know they have a lot of work to put in before that can happen.

After all, this is a team that lost six of its top eight contributors from last season’s championship squad. This is a team with just two seniors. 

So expect some growing pains.

As long as the Papermakers are progressing, though, they will be just fine.

Friday night, Camas suffered its first loss of the season. Preseason No. 1 Davis broke open a close game with a 20-0 run in the third quarter to win 63-49.

The Papermakers are now 6-1 and finding out a little bit about each other every day.

“It’s great for us. We’re a really young team now,” Keirra Thompson said. “We’re getting these different learning experiences. A lot of them don’t know what to do in big-game situations. To learn now is a lot better than to learn in the Tacoma Dome.”

Oh yes, the goal is to return to the dome for the Class 4A state tournament in March.

“We’re getting the mistakes out of the way now,” Thompson added.

“It’s good for these younger people to know what they’re going to see in the Tacoma Dome,” Buzzard said. “I think it’s really good for us.”

Camas took down one of Oregon’s best teams — Willamette — in an overtime thriller earlier this season. Next up for Camas is Washington’s preseason No. 2 team, Lake Washington, after Christmas.

“It’s not supposed to be easy,” Buzzard said. 

She said she will remind the younger players that it is OK to lose as long as they learn from the result and improve.

“We just want to challenge these girls as much as we can in the early part of the season,” coach Scott Thompson said. 

Playing Willamette, Davis, and soon Lake Washington, will “let us know what we need to work on,” the coach said. “We’d much rather lose a game in December than in February.”

With that said, this schedule still is easier than the program’s last two non-league schedules. Thompson said that was intentional. He had a bunch of talent with plenty of varsity experience the previous two seasons. Last year, in fact, Camas played a “national” non-league schedule to prepare the Papermakers for the postseason. 

Clearly, it worked.

This season’s schedule is a mix of tough opponents, as well as a few matchups that the Papermakers knew they were likely going to win easily. Coach Thompson said he had to allow for his younger players to be successful, and not just go up against the best of the best every night.

The Papermakers are responding, plus the team’s culture is perfect for a young team, he added. The young players can work hard, make mistakes, and they know that the seniors will not be yelling at them, criticizing them for not passing them the ball, for example.

The Papermakers are in this together.

No matter what happens in February and March, the Papermakers will play all season with that special distinction: defending champions.

“Everyone sees our name,” Buzzard said. “It’s an extra honor we get to carry.”

But it does not mean the seniors this year are satisfied, just because they won it all last season.

“It’s great, but we’re not done,” Keirra Thompson said.

…

Numbers game

The starting lineup was announced Friday in numerical order: No. 1 De’Chaiya Gentle, No. 2 Sophie Buzzard, No. 3 Baylie Farra, No. 4 Lauren Hood, and No. 5 Keirra Thompson.

Hey, those are new numbers for the seniors. Did they do that so the starting five would wear Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5?

Nope. 

“We switched for different reasons,” Keirra Thompson said. “It was not planned at all. It just happened.”

For Thompson, the number change came from the heart. Longtime Clark County coach John Griffin, who was an assistant for years with the Camas girls basketball program, died this offseason. 

“We both had the same birthday on Aug. 5, so I’m rocking the 5,” Thompson said.