Sports briefs for Feb. 27, 2020

Camas girls basketball qualifies for state regionals

The Camas girls basketball team won three of its five games in the 4A West Central/Southwest tournament and qualified for the 4A state regional round.

The 14th-seeded Papermakers (15-11) will play a loser-out game against 11th-seeded Lake Stevens at 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 29, at Jackson High School in Mill Creek, Washington. The winner of that game will qualify for the 4A Hardwood Classic, which will be held March 4-7 at the Tacoma Dome.

After playing six games in 11 days, Camas’ road to the 4A state tournament was exhausting. The Papermakers opened the bi-district tournament on Feb. 11 with a 53-30 win over Hazen in a play-in game. Two nights later they lost to Rogers (Puyallup) 53-38. Then Camas prevailed in two loser-out games, eliminating Tahoma with a 54-46 win on Feb. 15 and Skyview with a 50-32 victory on Feb. 18 to clinch a berth to the regional round.

Camas then lost to Kentwood 52-47 on Feb. 20 and fell to Rogers 54-29 on Feb. 22.

Papermakers Scott Thompson said that even though his team faced a daunting schedule during the past two weeks, it’s really starting to hit a groove with junior center Faith Bergstrom either succeeding against double- and triple-team defenses or passing the ball out to shooters such as Haylie Johnson and Avery Minich, who have have hit big shots over the past few weeks, according to Thompson.

“I thought we played well even in the two losses, and I can see that we are able to compete with these teams,” Thompson said. “It’s just a matter of getting our legs back and doing it for 32 minutes. Our 3-point shooting percentage over the past two weeks is up over what it was throughout the season, so the basketball feels good in our girls’ hands right now, and that will be really important on Saturday.”

Camas boys finish seventh at state, Kim 2nd in 100 butterfly

Camas senior Jaden Kim finished a quarter of a second away from a state championship, finishing second in the 100 butterfly to Patrick Keough of Curtis High School at the 4A state swimming and diving championships, held Feb. 21-22 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington.

Kim, who finished with a time of 49.92 seconds, has consistently been one of the top butterfly swimmers in the state, finishing in the top three in the event at the state meet during all four years of his high school career.

Kim was also a part of the Papermakers’ 200 free relay team which placed third; the 200 medley relay squad that placed fifth; and the 400 free relay that placed eighth. David Peddie finished fifth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4 minutes, 43:13 seconds.

Camas placed seventh in the team standings.