This past weekend, the 17th annual SMHS Boys and Girls Invitational, four amazing teams came out to play in front of a crowd. The championship game had Class A second ranked Cameron with the Home Lady Devils last year for a 52-39 game.
The Lady Devils held the ball for long periods of time against Cameron from traveling from Marshall County. The defending Cameron Dragons led the game three times just seconds into the game by Maci Neely with another 2:42 in the second half. Kenzie Clutter gave a 15-foot shot to the scoreboard with a 21-19 lead for the Dragons. Neely gave another shot to the scoreboard at the end of the third quarter with the Dragons on top with 23-22. Senior co-captain to the lady devils, Josey Moore tied the score 2-2 with a 15-foot jump shot halfway through the first quarter. Addie Davis then continued adding to the scoreboard with a tree-ball at 5:34, then sister Zoe Davis with another jumper with 4:03 left in the end of the first quarter with a 7-2 Lady Devil lead. After a small turn over on Cameron, St. Marys pulled the ball out to half court and the defending Cameron stayed in the defensive zone.
Freshman guard Callie Powell dribbles the ball with over 90 seconds of time off the clock. The Dragons came to challenge the tactics of the Lady Devils with the four-corner offensive. After 3 minutes on the clock Breanna Price found a down in the Cameron defense scoring a lay-up with only 1:05 left in the quarter. St. Marys now having a 9-2 advantage. Van Tassell fouled with only 53 seconds left in the first quarter. Addie Davis makes another bucket before the buzzer goes off with an 11-3 heading into the next quarter. The second quarter was low scoring with only both teams scoring only 13 points combined. Seven points from the home Lady Devils and 6 from the traveling team Cameron Dragons. The devils used the spread offense with a run of the clock on every possession to prevent Van Tassell dominating the game for the Dragons. She scored 10 points for her team. By halftime St. Marys led the game 18-9 in the beginning of the second half.
Cameron made adjustments and put pressure on the Lady Devils from running time off the clock. Dragons went on a 14-4 run, Neeley hooped with 44 seconds left in the third quarter with a 23-22 lead for the Dragons. That would be their last lead of the game, but tie the game one more time. St. Marys drove in a layup with Callie Powell just 25 seconds left and Breanna Price hooping 25 seconds left in the third quarter pushing a lead for the Lady Devils back up 5 points into the final minutes of play time. In the final quarter St. Marys led by 11 but Cameron kept pulling through with effort. Emily Dobbs hit another shot with 1:39 left on the clock. Moore was fouled at 1:22 mark and swished 2 free shots for a three-point lead 41-38 for the Lady Devils. Sophomore Kenzie Clutter hit a trifecta and the game was suddenly tied 41-41. Moore was fouled again with 47 ticks left.
Cameron hurried down the court with a turnover and was forced to foul to stop the clock with 19 seconds left in the game. Addie Davis leading scorer with 17 points made both free throws 45-41. Another turnover put the ball back in Moore’s hands and was sent to the foul line again with 14 seconds left. She calmly made both shots. As the buzzer went off St. Marys had a 47-41 win against the Cameron Dragons. Joining Addie Davis in double figures Breanna Price with 11 points. Moore added eight tallies, six in the final minute of the game.
The Lady Devils shot 17 of 18 from the free throws in the fourth quarter. Cameron led by Neeley with 12 points and Van Tassell’s 10 points. They got 8 points each with Clutter and Dobbs. The Lady Devils are now 10-4 on the season heading into a home game with Wheeling Central Catholic on Tuesday. Addie Davis, Josey Moore, Breanna Price were named to the all-tournament team for St. Marys while Neeley and Van Tassell earned the honor for Cameron.