Cameron Girls Move On To State Semifinals
Dragons top Dons for the fourth time
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CHARLESTON -- When it comes to sports, it's always tough to defeat a team multiple times in a season. For Cameron's girls basketball team, its first assignment on its first trip to the West Virginia Class A state tournament was to beat a solid Madonna team for a fourth time.
Despite a cold-shooting afternoon, the Dragons can put a check inside that box.
With the defense helping force 21 turnovers as well as the Blue Dons shooting 22.2% from the field, Cameron got its first state tournament win in school history and advanced to the Class A semifinals with a 42-24 victory over Madonna Tuesday at the Charleston Coliseum.
The Dragons will take on Calhoun County Thursday. Tipoff is slated for 11:15 a.m.
"It definitely wasn't our prettiest game. Every time we have played Madonna, we have not shot the ball well. A couple of times it's been 18%, 22%. (Tuesday) wasn't much better,"Cameron coach Holly Pettit said. "Luckily, we were hitting our free throws and I think we played good defensively. I think we rattled them enough to where they weren't taking good shots. I surely hope we shoot better the rest of the tournament."
The Dragons shot 25% from the field (13 of 52), and as their starters were struggling in the first quarter, it was Aubre Cain-Loy who came off the bench to provide a spark.
With only one field goal made in the first five minutes of the contest, Cain-Loy hit a big 3-pointer for the Dragons to make the score 5-1.
After Vanessa Alatis hit a 3-pointer for Madonna to make it 7-6 in favor of the Dragons with 21 seconds left in the first quarter, the sophomore hit another shot from long range, this time right before the horn to give the Dragons some breathing room.
"When I came off the bench, I was really scared," Cain-Loy said. "But I shot the ball and it happened to go in."
It was more of the same in the second quarter. As the shooting continued to be cold, the Blue Dons remained in striking distance. However, Reagan Gray got in on the action for buzzer beaters.
With the score at 16-12, Gray grabbed an offensive rebound in the winding seconds and saw her shot go in as the horn sounded.
The Dragons went right to business with their defense as they allowed two field goals in the third quarter.
While Anna Backel hit a free throw to start the fourth quarter scoring and cut the Blue Don's deficit to nine, Cameron went right down the floor and responded. Ashylnn VanTassell grabbed an offensive board and put the ball back in the hoop. The Dragons were able to keep a double digit lead for the rest of the game.
"Our season was about creating memories... They created a lot," an emotional Madonna coach Cory Wingett said. "I'm not upset that we lost. I have a daughter on the team, but I have 16 daughters that I spent every day for the last six months with. That's the toughest thing."
The Blue Dons shot 8 of 41 from the field. Alatis led the way with eight points while Jazzy Melnyk scored seven points and grabbed six boards.
"We just couldn't get shots to fall," Wingett said. "Defensively, we were rock stars. They averaged 55 points a game on us. They had three players that averaged 45 of those 55. Mission accomplished, defensively. We battled and did a wonderful job. It's just in basketball we have to shoot some shots and get them to fall. It just didn't happen (Tuesday) and that's basketball."
For the Dragons, VanTassell tallied a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds while Lili Neely supplied nine points and seven rebounds.
Cain-Loy finished with eight points and both Kenzie Clutter and Gray had nine boards.
"The third (game against Madonna) was probably the hardest," Neely said going 4 of 4 against the Blue Dons. "We both know each other just as well as the other one. So coming out on top (Tuesday) really sparked everyone's confidence for Thursday."
Pettit was able to watch some of the Calhoun County game before she went down on the sidelines. The Red Devils wasted no time to open the state tournament and secured a 75-34 victory over River View.
"They're a very quick basketball team," Pettit said. "They shoot the ball well from the outside. On Thursday, we definitely need to make sure we're crashing the boards, boxing out and getting these girls to the rim. We need to get a hand in their face and we need to stop transition."