Even in defeat, Papermakers acknowledge there is a special bond with this team

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

It is Sunday, March 5, 2023.

The 2023-24 high school basketball season just started.

At least in Camas.

When asked when the next season would begin, Camas standout Addison Harris did not hesitate.

“Tomorrow,” she said Saturday night, about 30 minutes after she and her teammates finished second in the Class 4A girls basketball state tournament.

Yes, the team built for today and tomorrow will have to wait until tomorrow to complete its ultimate goal.

A team of destiny, the Eastlake Wolves, played a suffocating defensive game Saturday night in the Tacoma Dome, irritating the Camas Papermakers en route to a 48-41 victory in the title game.

Tournament MVP Ava Schmidt made a halfcourt shot at the buzzer in the quarterfinals on Thursday night. The play was controversial. Did she get the shot off on time? Did the clock start when it should have started? The officials ruled that the basket was good.

Eastlake has been golden since then.

“That was the craziest thing anyone has ever seen,” said Eastlake’s Sofia Aluas, who scored a game-high 23 points in the championship game. “It really just shows what pushing until the last second really is. Without that, we wouldn’t be here, so …”

Eastlake’s title run will be talked about in Sammamish for years.

Camas will remember this too. The Papermakers hope — expect — Saturday’s defeat will fuel a championship in 2024, when every athlete who played minutes in this year’s state tournament returns. 

“Now we know. We’re going to be here next year,” Harris said. “We’re going to know what to do. We’ve got a chip on our shoulder now. I can guarantee you we’ll be here next year.”

They also know they let a great opportunity get past them this season. Ranked No. 2 in Washington, seeded No. 2 for this tournament, as well, the Papermakers believed they were the best in Washington. They knocked off No. 1 Woodinville on Thursday. Then came out on fire from 3-point range on Friday to beat No. 3 Tahoma.

This was going to be their moment.

Until it wasn’t.

The Papermakers had one of their worst shooting nights of the season. Absolutely must give some credit to the Wolves — their physical defense frustrated the Papermakers. 

“Ultimately, they were really, really tricky to figure out,” Camas coach Scott Thompson said, crediting the Wolves.

But the Papermakers also missed a lot of shots they typically make. Camas was 5 for 19 from the floor in the first half and trailed 26-12 at the break.

“We just dug ourselves too big of a ditch in the beginning,” Harris said. “We weren’t doing the details that we were doing in the second half.”

Shooting wise, Camas never really improved in the second half. The team finished the game 26 percent from the floor. But that Camas defense? Wow. It nearly brought the Papermakers all the way back from the dead. 

It took almost six minutes for Eastlake to score in the second half.

Unfortunately for the Papermakers, they only managed nine points in that stretch and 11 for the quarter. Still, Camas did its job, cutting the deficit in half prior to the fourth quarter.

“I can’t say enough about our locker room. It was just gritty and determined to come back and fight our way into that game,” Thompson said. “Defensively, we picked up the pressure. We basically willed our way back into that game. I’m really proud of the girls.”

The full-court press gave the Wolves fits all second half. Camas kept fighting. Riley Sanz made back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a three-point game with just more than 2 minutes to play. 

“Had we played like that the whole game, we would have won,” Harris said. 

Eastlake would score the next four points to make it 43-36, but the Papermakers had one more rally in them.

Sanz hit another 3-pointer and Harris got an offensive rebound and put-back basket to make it a two-point game in the final 30 seconds. 

Camas never had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead, though. Kaylia Jackson, who had just missed two free throws, buried her next two — clutch — to put Eastlake up by four with 15 seconds to play.

Camas would not convert on its next possession, and the Wolves put the game away with three more free throws in the closing seconds.

Even in defeat, though, Harris recognized the Camas unity. There was something powerful in their comeback attempt.

“We were just so happy to be there with each other, so in the moment,” Harris said. “We all had our sights set on the end goal. We had tunnel vision for that end goal.”

The comeback fell a little short.

“Our love for them …  it’s unconditional,” Thompson said, representing the coach staff and its feelings for the players. “It doesn’t have anything to do with winning and losing. We’re just proud of them. They were amazing tonight. They’ve been amazing all year. We’ll look back on second place, and we’ll be proud of that, too.”

It is, after all, the best basketball finish in school history.

Eastlake, a team of destiny that needed a sports miracle just to advance past the quarterfinals, kept that momentum for the rest of the week.

The Camas Papermakers did not have a long offseason to think about it, though. 

According to Harris, the 2023-24 season has already started.