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CHARLESTON - The No. 4 Cameron Dragons fell in Friday's W.Va. Class A state semifinal against No. 1 Gilmer County, 48-16, inside the Charleston Coliseum.
The top-seeded Titans advance to the Class A state championship game against No. 2 Tug Valley, the title bout set for Saturday at 7:30 p.m., the final title game of the tournament.
Cameron ends their season at 19-4, and bow out of the state tournament in the semifinals after capturing the Class A crown each of the three seasons prior.
"We knew what we were getting into when we got the No. 4 seed. We knew Gilmer's the buzzsaw this year," Cameron head coach Holly Pettit said. "That same time last year played with the state championship we had from last year and we lost 4 starters. we have nobody over 5-9 and they have several over 6-foot. We knew we were outsized. Unfortunately, we didn't compete as we wanted to."
The Titans have had little trouble with the field of teams in their postseason encounters. They defeated Tolsia 74-23 in their regional co-final, a 51-point win, and defeated Notre Dame 67-26 in the Class A quarterfinals, a 41-point victory before defeating Cameron by 32 on Friday.
Gilmer County did not take long in getting out to a commanding lead, going up 25-2 after the first quarter. They led 36-6 at halftime.
It was the Titans' defense that ruled the day, as Gilmer County held Cameron to two made field goals in the game, shooting 4% from the field. Ava Dobbins had six blocks on the game, as Gilmer County had 12 blocks as a team, their size inside giving Cameron trouble.
"Our defense definitely showed up again. We forced Cameron out of their comfort zone and to take tough shots," Titans head coach Amy Chapman said. "A lot of our offense was created by our defense and that was good. We ran the floor well, made good decisions with the basketball and did a good job executing offensively to get it inside."
Dobbins had 16 points and 11 rebounds to round out her statline. Allie Ellyson had 15 points and five steals for Gilmer.
Cameron senior Maci Neely had nine points, nine rebounds and three steals for Cameron.
Despite the loss, Cameron wraps up their season with plenty of hardware- their fifth-straight regional title and fifth-straight OVAC championship as the team put together another successful season despite plenty of roster turnover.
"These girls can say they've been a part of history," Pettit said. "Nobody thought we'd make it to Charleston this year, let alone win in the first round."
Graduating seniors for Cameron include Neely, Shaleigh Littleton, Devan Schrack and Bianca Marongiu. Players like junior Macey Bertram, junior Aubrey Thomas and freshman Kendra Thomas are set to return after seeing the court plenty this past year.