The Cameron Dragons girls basketball team, pictured with their OVAC 1A trophy after defeating Frontier 39-31 on Saturday inside the ECO Center.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Dragons Dynasty keeps on rolling.

The Cameron Dragons proved once more that they belonged atop the OVAC 1A competition on Saturday inside Ohio University Eastern’s ECO Center, defeating top-seeded Frontier 39-31 for a remarkable sixth-straight conference championship.

“It’s really special for the girls and for the team to win a sixth straight championship,” Cameron head coach Holly Pettit said. “You know, just, it starts with day one in November, being in the OVAC championship game is a goal from the beginning. To come and to win the championship, especially six in a row, is definitely something special.”

In a low-scoring affair, Cameron found enough offense to lead 10-5 after the first quarter and 24-9 at halftime.

Kendra Thomas and Emma Francis each scored 11 points to pace the Dragons. Thomas added five rebounds and two steals.

Francis was named the John Howell Memorial Most Valuable Player of the game.

“I’m so glad to see her have a game like she did today,” Pettit said of Francis, who made a pair of 3-pointers Saturday. “You know, she took last year off, she came back her senior year and we couldn’t be happier to have her back. She shot the ball well. She had some key rebounds for us there when the game was a little bit tight and for her to step up was really important.”

For all of the members of the Cameron girls basketball team, they might struggle to remember a time when their hometown Dragons were not OVAC champions, as expectations have been raised– and sustained– within the program for years.

“The seniors that I have this year, they got to be a part of state championship teams and I think being with some of the best players in the state shaped them into the players that they are today. Also starting with our freshmen, sophomores, and juniors that play now, you know, they work hard every day and I think it’s starting to become a tradition in Cameron.”

Frontier was led by Anna Bowersock, who scored a dozen for the Cougars, who finish as OVAC runner-ups in back-to-back seasons.

Saturday was the third meeting of this season between the Dragons and Cougars, though Frontier had beaten Cameron in their previous two matchups.

“I think there was some different personnel,” Pettit said, when asked about the difference between Saturday and her team’s previous encounters with Frontier. “But I told the girls that I thought that we could run the ball on them, get up and down the court a little bit better, and I think that we beat them in transition and limited second chance shots.”

Before Saturday, Pettit emphasized rebounding and limiting extra scoring opportunities, and Cameron won the rebounding battle 38-30 against the Cougars, and had nine second-chance points to Frontier’s seven.