Papermakers bring the noise at state

The Camas girls basketball team has never won a state trophy, but this year’s team was one of the best in school history, playing three games at the Tacoma Dome and missing a trophy by just one win at the state tournament in Tacoma last week.

The Papermakers opened the tournament on Feb. 28, with a match-up against a familiar opponent — beating the Union Titans for the third time this year, 59-39.

Camas’ Courtney Clemmer led the scoring with 11 points. Papermakers point guard Haley Hanson scored 10 points.

“It helped that we were here last year, we knew the lights, the floor and how everything runs a bit different, so it was a bit of an edge in the first game,” said Clemmer, who led Camas in scoring and rebounding all season.

The following day, on March 1, the Papermakers drew a tough hand in their match-up with the Eastlake Wolves out of Sammamish, losing 58-27 in their quarterfinal match-up.

Even after their loss to the Wolves, the players stayed focused on their next opponent: the Kentridge High Chargers out of Kent. The Papermakers had already played Kentridge earlier in the year, and kept the game close for much of that district game.

In the end, however, Camas lost to the Chargers 60-44 on March 2, ending a remarkable season just one win shy of that trophy.

Courtney Clemmer is among five departing seniors who pushed their team to the state tournament two years in a row — something the program has never done in school history.

“I’m really proud of them,” head coach Scott Preuninger said of the Papermakers. “They handled adversity well all season long.”