Camas ‘Pink’ reigns supreme on breast cancer night

Papermakers finish second place in league

By Dan Trujillo

Post-Record staff

More than 1,500 fans packed the Camas High School “warehouse” pink Thursday night.

“You can’t help but sit back and watch because you spend so much time trying to build this up,” said Athletic Director Terry Cavender.

In a week of basketball the Papermaker girls players and coaches are never going forget, Camas defeated Union 43-33 to finish second in the 3A Greater St. Helen’s League. This was three days after the Papermakers came within two points of upsetting Prairie, who has not lost a league game in more than a decade.

“I don’t think we could have played better against Prairie and Union,” said junior forward Katelyn Henson. “It was just an awesome week.”

On top of all of the thrills on the court, the Camas girls varsity, junior varsity and freshmen players and parents generated close to $3,000 on the night for breast cancer research.

“I didn’t think it could be bigger than last year, but it was,” said junior guard Melissa Williams. “Our community was so involved.”

A total of $2,400 came from a raffle drawing and a silent auction, on top of $460 in “Hoops For Pink” T-shirt sales. This pushes the grand total to more than $8,000, all of which will be donated to the Kay Yow Foundation.

“Isn’t this great?” said Camas head coach Kent Thomas. “It doesn’t matter the dollar amount, just seeing so many people clamoring and wanting to be a part of this makes it all worthwhile.

“It’s a double victory,” he added. “The girls get the satisfaction of second place, and the realization that their hard work throughout this fundraiser is helping us raise more money than we ever imagined. This is very proud basketball team, right now.”

On the basketball court, Union never really had a shot after Camas opened with an 11-3 first quarter. Williams collected 16 points, six rebounds and five assists. Henson added 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Hayley Smith grabbed nine rebounds to go with six points.

“We had to perform because it was our ‘Hoops For Pink’ night,” Williams said. “We wanted revenge, gave it our best shot, and we’re happy with the result.”

“Our intensity on defense sparked our offense,” Henson said. “That aggressiveness on defense helps us get steals, rebounds and force turnovers.”

Second place in league gives the Papermakers an automatic bye into the regional tournament. All they ask for is one more shot against Prairie for the district championship Friday, at Hudson’s Bay High School in Vancouver. To get that opportunity, Camas must beat the winner of tonight’s playoff between Union and Columbia River, Thursday.

“The girls should be proud of where they are because of where we came from at the beginning of the year,” Thomas said. “December was hard on us, and we struggled into the first part of January. Our second go around through league has been a dream. All of those lessons we learned in December and early January are paying off for us now.”