CamasCounty 6-0 junior Katelyn Peterson is a thoroughbred who does just about everything for the Mushers on the volleyball and basketball courts. Wednesday night, Peterson got a lot of help from her Musher teammates at Dietrich.
Peterson (12 points, 21 rebounds, 4 steals, 8 assists) nearly had a triple-double as CamasCounty (8-13) upset last year’s State 1A Division 2 runner-up Carey (11-11) by a 54-49 score in an elimination game of the Northside Conference girls’ basketball tournament.
Carey’s string of three consecutive trips to the state tournament came to an end. Later Wednesday, the reigning state champion Richfield Tigers (16-5) upset defending Northside tournament champion Dietrich (19-2) by a 55-43 score and earned a chance to defend its state title Feb. 17 in Nampa.
The Richfield victory over Dietrich wasn’t nearly as surprising as the Camas upset win, which put the Mushers into Thursday night’s state tournament play-in game against Dietrich on the same floor.
Shooting well from the perimeter and getting spectacular play from Peterson at her unusual point guard/post combo position, the young Mushers (1 junior, 3 sophomore, 3 freshmen) snapped a 23-game losing streak to Carey teams dating way back to January 2002.
It was a sloppy game—31 turnovers for Camas and 27 for Carey. Whenever the Mushers needed to clean up their act, Peterson and 5-9 sophomore post Stephanie Moore (18 points, 10 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 assists) came to the rescue
Trailing 21-16 with two minutes left in the first half, Camas County went on an 8-0 run for a 24-21 lead at halftime led by the shooting of guards Sierra Sabin (11 points, 2 steals) and Carlie Strom (4 points, 3 assists). Sabin, a sophomore, scored six points in the second and Strom nailed a shot at the buzzer.
Peterson, coming off a 33-point, 22-rebound effort in a 59-20 win over the Community School Tuesday, dominated the second half against Carey with 14 of her 21 rebounds. The Musher lead reached 13 in the fourth before Carey junior Micaela Adamson led a Panther charge cutting it to three.
Adamson (19 points, 9 rebounds, 5 steals, 2 blocks) played with tremendous heart in the comeback, despite having four personal fouls. Junior Nicky Gomez (10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals) continued her strong tourney effort. She averaged 11.0 ppg in four games.
Other Carey contributors: Jaide Parke (11 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 assists, 2 blocks), Darby Northcott (4 points, 4 boards, 2 assists), McKayla Mecham (4 rebounds) and Lilly Rivera (5 points, 5 steals. Leading Carey scorer Parke (14.1 ppg) drilled 12 3-pointers in her first three tournament games but was limited to one by the strong Camas perimeter defense on Wednesday.
Carey’s Lilly Rivera, shooting against Camas County’s Katelyn Peterson (right) during Carey’s 51-35 home win over the Mushers Jan. 18, came on strong at the end of the 2010-11 season giving the Panthers speed and ball-stealing abilities. Photo by David N. Seelig
