CAMAS — The streak survived.

The Prairie girls basketball team took Camas’ best shot Monday night, and walked off the gym floor with yet another victory.

Even the Falcons will tell you they barely got it done this time.

Angela Gelhar was 13 of 13 from the free-throw line and scored 22 points, and the traditionally strong Prairie defense was enough to overcome a horrendous shooting night from the floor in a 46-44 victory over the Papermakers.

Prairie clinched the Class 3A Greater St. Helens League title — a 13th league title in a row — and also ran its consecutive win streak in league games to 121.

Again, barely.

Melissa Williams and Kayla Roche each scored 13 points to lead the Papermakers, who had a two-point lead in the third quarter and were within three points of Prairie for most of the final three minutes of the game.

“It was bittersweet,” Williams said. “It was fun. It was amazing. Even though we lost, we know we can compete with Prairie. That’s something Camas has never been able to say before.”

The Falcons, who went 0 for 14 from the field in the fourth quarter, got four free throws from Gelhar, including two with 25 seconds remaining for a five-point cushion. Camas would make a 3-pointer at the horn for the final margin

“We can’t lose that streak,” Gelhar said. “None of us want to be that team.”

Camas had the momentum when it took a 36-34 lead on a Roche putback midway through the third quarter.

“Deep down, I know we’re not going to lose,” Gelhar said. “Just get to the basket and draw some fouls.”

Jackie Lanz scored 10 points for Prairie on 3 of 6 shooting. The rest of the team, however, was 9 of 54. Prairie was 3 of 25 from 3-point range.

Even when not shooting well, the Falcons always have their defense. Camas was held scoreless the rest of the third quarter and Prairie ended up on an 8-0 run for a 42-36 advantage.

“There was a real defensive surge at that point,” Prairie coach Al Aldridge said. “I saw the intensity really going up.”

Camas owned the offensive boards in the third quarter, getting eight second-chance points. But Prairie seemed to get most of the misses in the fourth quarter. Freshman Emily Rowe had 10 rebounds for Prairie.

The game was so close that the Falcons pretty much forgot to celebrate the league title. Aldridge said he did not even mention it in his post-game talk.

“We talked about being lucky to be able to get out of there with a victory,” he said.