Thirty six points. That was the difference between an early season humbling loss, and hoisting a state championship trophy.
What transpired between is a story of hard work, determination, and ultimately, perseverance. That’s part of the tale of the 2021-22 Cameron Dragons girls’ basketball team. The climax of said story?
These Dragons, with nary a senior on the team, took care of business and became the first girls’ team in Cameron history to close out the season with a win.
It’s been a little more than a week since head coach Holly Pettit and her players celebrated on the Charleston Civic Center floor. That excitement, however, still lingers.
“It’s overwhelming,” Pettit said. “Last year, we came out on the losing end, knowing our girls didn’t play our best basketball, so we kind of had a chip on our shoulder.
“We knew what it felt like to get there, and we were back in the same situation this year, but came out on the winning end. We knew what we were getting into.”
Last winter, it was the second-seeded Dragons falling to top-seeded Tug Valley 63-45 in the Class A championship game. This time, Pettit’s crew needed to take care of a talented Gilmer County team led by senior duo Trinity Bancroft and Malaysia Morgan.
Early-Season Flashback
Jump back to December. The Dragons rolled into a tournament, fresh off a 62-13 win against regional rival Madonna, and two games removed from an impressive 52-39 win against St. Marys.
Cameron was set to square off with the Gilmer County Titans, one of the preseason favorites for the Class A crown. The result? A 76-43 win for Gilmer.
The big takeaway. The Dragons previously installed press breaker was not quite up to the Titans level, and Gilmer made Cameron pay to the tune of 34 turnovers.
“The game was early on in the season, and we were still trying to figure out our personnel, who we wanted on the court,” Pettit said. “Gilmer County has a really good press, better than what we’d seen up to that point. We’d practice some press breakers, but none that would work against theirs.
“We knew what we needed to do if we saw them again and, preparing for the (championship) game, we knew that we had to break their press, get them in a half court and use our size advantage.”
That advantage came in the form of 6-foot-2 sophomore Ashlynn Van Tassell, arguably one of the top small school post players in the state and, likely, regardless of class. Van Tassell, who averages 18.8 points and 14 rebounds per game as a sophomore, bested both marks in the championship game. She finished with a game-high 29 points and 19 rebounds.
When asked what makes her sophomore post so effective, Pettit had this to say …
“The way she moves for as tall as she is, she gets up and down the floor tremendously for a post player,” Pettit admitted. “Her footwork is amazing. She has great hands and, when you throw it in to her, she’s going to catch it.
“A lot of decent post players have one move, the drop step. But Ashlynn has a handful of moves she can pull out at any time, and she puts it up so easy.”
Seemingly easy was the calmness Van Tassell put up and sank a pair of free throws with 4.2 seconds left to tie the game at 50-50.
But like all season, Van Tassell wasn’t the only one making plays for Cameron.
Gilmer went to inbound the ball, but freshman Maci Neely stepped in front of the pass and alertly fired off a 3-pointer.
If it went in, Cameron won its first state championship in girls’ basketball. If not, overtime. Seeing Neely’s shot on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays tells you how that went.
Neely’s impressed in her varsity debut, averaging 11 points and four rebounds per game. Sophomore Kenzie Clutter, the other half of the Dragons dynamic sophomore duo, averaged 9.2 points per game and four assists whilst running the offense and handling the aforementioned presses.
Expectations
Cameron’s reached two straight state championship games. Can they make a third? Can they win a second?
These are questions that will be discussed throughout the girls’ basketball landscape in West Virginia during the offseason. Why? As mentioned, Cameron’s roster featured no seniors. Everyone is back and everyone will have another offseason of conditioning, work outs, and for some, AAU.
“I told the girls great job, let’s enjoy this, because when we start back up, we’ll have a target on our back,” Pettit said. “There are other teams that aren’t losing any players, or only one, and they’ll be back too, bigger and better.
“It’s going to be tough for us to get to where we ended up this year, but that gives us a goal. We know what’s out there. Now we have to work to be the best.”
One thing is for certain, the Dragons’ faithful will certainly be offering its full support. There are a lot of positive things you can say about the community of Cameron. Highly ranked amongst those is the community supports its students and student athletes.
From the crown in Charleston, to the welcome back the players and staff received upon returning to Marshall County shown just how proud the people of Cameron were, and are, of their team.
“When you think of the run we made last year, the last one turned out the lights, and it was the same this year,” Pettit said of the fan support. “The community has just been tremendous. They welcomed us home from the state tournament. We just have phenomenal parents, teachers, community members—they lined the streets in the freezing cold, despite the snow.
“Our girls’ and boys’ teams have grown so much over the last few years that I think it’s really put basketball on the map for Cameron.”
And with the entire team back from this memorable season, there’s no reason the Dragons and their coach can’t further cement that stamp.
