Photo by Cody Tomer Cameron’s Aubre Cain-Loy goes airborne for a layup during Wednesday’s Class A, Region 1 Championship triumph over Tyler Consolidated.

CAMERON — “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys blared over the loudspeaker as Cameron girls’ coach Holly Pettit cut down the net after Wednesday’s regional final.

The fact is, these girls are on fire.

The Dragons punched their second consecutive ticket to the state tournament with a dominant 65-33 triumph over visiting Tyler Consolidated in the Class A, Region 1 Championship.

“It’s very emotional,” Pettit said. “I’m super excited and happy for these girls. It’s a special group of girls. They are young (No seniors on the team) and for them to overcome some of the losses we’ve had this year — we’ve taken a couple on the chin and for them to bounce back and adjust to adversity — they’ve done a really good job.”

Cameron is the No. 2 seed in the state tournament behind only Gilmer County and will open against No. 7 River View on Tuesday at 1 p.m. in Charleston, where the Dragons fell just short in the state title game a year ago.

“Going back down again we know a little more of what to expect,” Pettit said. “We’ll know how to spend our time and we’re not going to be as star struck. Hopefully we’ll get down there and take care of business.”

Ashlynn VanTassell showcased her skills inside and beyond the 3-point arc as she led the way with 23 points but Aubre Cain-Loy and Ashlee Dobbs stepped up in the clutch with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Gracie Carter and Kenzie Clutter each turned in seven points in the victory, as well.

“We were really balanced (Wednesday),” Pettit said. “We had a couple of girls who aren’t big scorers really step up. Our defense was on point, too. We’ve been focusing on that because we know if we got to Charleston we would see teams we would need to play good defense against. I can’t commend our girls enough for their effort (Wednesday).”

Even Tyler Consolidated coach Tom Phillips was impressed.

“We had full intentions of doubling (VanTassell) and picking up their shooters,” he said. “But, when that happens, they come out with two more shooters. If only we could have put six people on the floor.

“They just got off to a quick start and were off. They are the most consistent team I’ve seen and they are the best team around I believe. It’s good for them that they are all sophomores and freshmen.”

Tyler held a brief 5-4 edge early but a 20-1 Cameron run opened the floodgates as the Dragons led 24-6 after one.

Then, the Dragons opened the second on a 10-2 spurt and finished the half on an 8-0 march to secure a commanding 47-12 halftime cushion.

Cameron continued to roll in the third as it took a 62-22 advantage into the final frame before spilling out onto the court in celebration as the clock hit all zeroes.

Clutter says they owe a lot of this year’s success to last year’s senior class, which helped pave the way for this year’s squad.

“Our seniors last year taught us a lot that will help us in the future,” Clutter said. “Getting experience down there last year will help us out a lot this year. We’re definitely going to play for those seniors from last year’s team.

“We just have a bond and we’re all a big family. We’ve all played together since grade school and we’ve gotten better as we’ve gone on.”

Tyler was led by Julianna Lattea with seven points and Cali Phillips with four points.

“We played a lot of Top 5 teams this year and we played well against some of those teams,” Coach Phillips said. “We played hard (Wednesday) but we just came up short. I’m proud of the way our girls fought but we just couldn’t outmuster Cameron (Wednesday).”