CAMERON — The Cameron Dragons are marching into familiar territory on Saturday, going for a remarkable sixth consecutive OVAC championship title against top-seeded Frontier in a title game rematch of last year.

Cameron, the two-seed in the tournament, defeated Heartland Christian in their semifinal matchup to advance to a spot that has seemed to be reserved for the Dragons throughout recent history

“We’re just excited to be back in the OVAC championship,” Cameron head coach Holly Pettit said. “You know, each year we’ve lost several starters so to kind of start over or to put fresh faces out on that floor in the championship, it’s great for the girls to be rewarded for how hard they work and to kind of to prove that they belong there.

“A lot of people think once you lose some star players to graduation, that you’re going to have a down year, not do as well. So, I’m really proud of the girls for working hard and earning their way to the finals.”

Cameron has a tall task in the Frontier Cougars, who were an up-and-coming team last year, and seem to have only improved with experience. Seniors Anna Bowersock (12 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.4 spg) and Kelsey Dye (11.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.8 spg) lead the Cougars, who have beaten Cameron twice in two regular season games this year.

“I think that both games that we lost to them, I think that they were definitely winnable, but we need to make some different adjustments,” Pettit said. “They’re a good basketball team, no question. They’re well coached, they’re senior-heavy, they have a lot of experience. I think they have pretty much everybody back that we played against last year in the OVAC final game.

“They have experience being there and you know, the Bowersock girl, she handles the ball well, she shoots the ball well. They’re a solid team and they play good defense and both times we’ve played them, they’ve limited us scoring-wise. That’s something that we’ve been working on and made some adjustments and hopefully we can change that up this weekend.”

Cameron sophomore Kendra Thomas, who captured the championship game MVP award last year vs. Frontier, leads the Dragons at 14.1 points per game, followed by Macey Bertram at 10.1. Both players average around three assists per game, while Kenzie Scott is Cameron’s leading rebounder at 5.6 per.

“With Kendra, she was last year’s OVAC championship game MVP,” Pettit said. “She came in as a freshman, she hit some big shots in that game and I think it was kind of a turnaround for us in that game. Kendra plays kind of calm and cool. Last year she played with a little bit of nerves and just freshman jitters. This year she’s gotten over that and there’s been a couple games where she’s just taking control and, when she handles the ball, it seems like nothing fazes her. She finds a way to get to the basket or to get herself open.”

“With Macey Bertram, she’s our top defender. Whoever we play, she’s always going to be guarding their best player. I think a lot of times that can take her out of the game offensively– I think that’s why she doesn’t score as much, but she’s on the floor after every loose ball, she’s, getting a lot of steals. She’s actually doing really well dishing out some assists. Just a good team leader and she’s kind of the spark plug to our team. I think that the team feeds off of her energy.”

Pettit said that stopping dribble-drives, limiting turnovers, and preventing second chances on the defensive end will be crucial in determining Saturday’s outcome. Cameron will look to execute their gameplan on short rest, having played Monday, Wednesday and Thursday this week.