Camas wraps up redemption arc with WIAA 4A girls basketball championship win over Gonzaga Prep

TACOMA, Wash. — A few minutes into the WIAA 4A girls basketball championship it looked like Gonzaga Prep had a little bit of magic left in its state run.

But as the Bullpups were looking to finish their Cinderella story, Camas was trying to complete its redemption story.

In this case, the Papermakers got the happy ending and yanked the glass slipper off Gonzaga Prep in a 57-41 win for the program's first state championship.

A 6-0 run to open the game by Gonzaga Prep quickly evaporated as the Papermakers rattled off a 20-0 run over the next six minutes.

Olivia McIntyre sank a pair of free throws for the Bullpups to stop the bleeding a little bit, but Camas was on a mission this season and good luck to anyone who stood in the Papermakers' way.

By the time halftime came around, Camas had a comfortable 22-point cushion, leading 39-17.

The Bullpups didn't fold in the second half and got the score back to as close as 12 before Camas eventually pulled away again.

There would simply be no denying the Papermakers the gold ball trophy this time around after they fell short a year ago.

"It's a storybook ending for this group," Camas coach Scott Thompson said. "I mean, they all grew up together. Every single player on our roster went to elementary school in the Camas School District which feels unheard of in today's world of sports with transfers and things like that."

After blitzing the Bullpups for 39 first-half points, the Papermakers managed just 18 in the second half.

But as they've been able to do all season long, Camas turned to its defense.

"In a way, I kind of feel like that's a fitting end for this team," Thompson said. "They're such a good defensive team and we knew if we picked the tempo up today that Gonzaga Prep would score a little more points than they did the last time we played them. We really wanted to push tempo with them being on four games in four days."

Aylah Cornwall scored a game-high 19 points for Gonzaga Prep.

Reagan Jamison scored a team-high 17 points for the Papermakers while Addison Harris added 12 points and eight rebounds. Camas also got a double-digit scoring effort from Riley Sanz who scored 10.

Harris was named tournament MVP as voted on by members of the media.

And as far as the unfinished business Camas had after falling to Eastlake in last year's championship goes, business is finally finished for the Papermakers.

"I think losing last year might have won the championship for us this year," Thompson said. "If you saw their motivation in the off season and how hard they worked every single day we stepped on the court - it just continued to make us better and better and better. They always drew motivation from losing that game."

For Harris and the rest of the seniors, what felt like a far away dream as ninth graders became a gold and shiny reality.

"I'm honored to be here with these girls and really happy to be a part of it," Harris said. "I couldn't ask for a better program, I couldn't ask for a better group and I couldn't ask for a better ending."