Camas girls basketball team will play Friday against Sumner in the state semifinals

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

They play for each other. 

For everyone on the team.

That was the statement by the Camas Papermakers on Thursday, after they delivered an incredible performance in the Class 4A girls basketball state tournament.

The Papermakers ran past Tahoma, pushing this contest to a running clock, cruising to a 64-23 victory at the Tacoma Dome.

The usual suspects did their damage early and often.

Addison Harris had 18 points. Keirra Thompson had 13 points and five assists. Riley Sanz and Sophie Buzzard each scored 10 points. And Reagan Jamison had eight points and a career-high six assists.

They were just part of the story, though, for the No. 1 seed Papermakers.

Because everyone played. Everyone contributed. 

The “final four” players for the Papermakers spend so much time supporting the starters and main rotation players. On this day, it was the other way around in the final minutes.

Yes, everyone got minutes — not just seconds at the very end of a game. Everyone played at least five minutes. In the state quarterfinals.

The starters will be well rested when they return to the court Friday in the state semifinals. No. 1 Camas will take on No. 4 Sumner at 3:45 p.m. in the Tacoma Dome. The winner will play for a state championship on Saturday.

Thursday was the first of what the Papermakers hope will be three wins in the dome this year. 

“I feel like that really showed who we were,” Jamison said. “We couldn’t come out much better than that. We won by, what, 40 or 30? We just have to keep it going for the rest of the tournament.”

Jamison was instrumental on one of Camas’ top plays of the day. She got a steal on defense, starting the fast break, and then she went with a behind-the-back pass, on a dime, to Riley Sanz for the layup and a 24-6 lead early in the second quarter.

“Our saying is ‘Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us.’ On any given night, it can be anybody scoring the points, assisting the points,” Jamison said. “Today I feel like it was a little bit of everyone, and we were at our best.”

Literally everyone. The whole squad got to play.

Sophomore Baylie Farra buried a 3-pointer as soon as she got on the floor.

“It was really cool. Everybody else was hitting shots all game. I was just ready to go in,” Farra said. “It was the first time stepping on that court for a game.”

Farra was with the Papermakers last season in the dome when Camas finished second in the state. She never played in a game, though.

Lauren Hood was in the dome, but in the stands last year. She told herself, next year, next year.

Well, it is next year, and the freshman came in and recorded three assists in a state quarterfinal game. 

“It’s super surreal,” Hood said, noting the difference a year can make.

But she was not surprised that all of the Papermakers did their jobs on Thursday.

“We’ve worked super hard in practice to have these moments,” Hood said.

Coach Scott Thompson agreed.

“That’s the first time we’ve been able to do that, where we got to get everybody on the court,” Thompson said of dome games, noting this is the third consecutive year that the Papermakers have played in the state tournament. 

“Those girls are unsung heroes on this team. They work hard every day just like the starters do, like the key players in the rotation do,” Thompson said. “Being able to reward them by getting them on the court, that was absolutely great.”

And there was a bit of a role reversal for the Papermakers.

“It’s really nice because we’re on the bench, cheering everybody else on, and once we step on the court, they’re doing the same thing for us,” Farra said.

As far as the matchup with Tahoma, this game was over almost as soon as it started. Harris had 11 of her 18 in the first quarter as Camas jumped out to a 14-point lead. The advantage was 26 by halftime. Then 38 before Tahoma scored in the second half.

Finally, a running clock, with the margin as much as 43 points.

“We had a really calm locker room,” Thompson said of the pre-game vibe. “We were very confident when we stepped onto the court.”

It showed. 

And Camas put on a show.