AUGUSTA — Nokomis’s Camryn King will give you an aw-shucks smile-and-shrug when you ask about her effort in the Warriors’ 41-26 win over Camden Hills in the Class A North girls basketball quarterfinals Friday night at the Augusta Civic Center. But her game was hardly worth ignoring.
The 5-foot-7 King had 15 points and three steals as the Warriors held the Windjammers to only eight points in the second half after trailing 18-17 at halftime. In the fourth quarter, King scored six points to help put the game away.
“I just try to work hard, and whatever works, works,” she said with a laugh.
Fifth-seeded Nokomis (11-8) faces the winners of Friday’s late game between No. 1 Gardiner and No. 8 Brewer in the semifinals Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. back in Augusta.
Brianna Townsend added 12 points for the Warriors, including a 5-for-6 effort from the free throw line down the stretch. Overall, she was 7-for-9 from the line.
Fourth-seeded Camden Hills (10-9) won the teams’ regular-season meeting, 51-41 on Jan. 13, which caused Nokomis coach Chelsea Crockett to make some changes.
“In this game, we played them man-to-man and tried to put the pressure on them,” Crockett said. “The last time we played zone against them, they hit a lot of shots.”
King added the Warriors missed several players to illness in the first game, necessitating the defensive switch.
Offense was at a premium throughout. Both teams endured extensive scoring droughts in the first half; Nokomis went 8:29 without a bucket before the Warriors scored six straight points early in the second. Camden Hills, meanwhile, went 7:06 without a basket until Leah Snyder scored a pair of quick buckets; she had six of the Jammers’ seven points in the frame.
A putback by Camden Hills’s Leah Jones with 4:14 left in the third quarter tied the game at 2o, but it was all Nokomis from there. The Warriors went on a 10-2 run, with five different players entering the scoresheet.
“We had a bad first start, and in the second half we came out hot,” King said. “Putting a lot of pressure and running the floor a lot helped us generate more offense.”
In the fourth, Nokomis played keep-away and rotated the ball around the perimeter. Camden Hills went 7:43 without a basket in the period until Kirsten Jones found the net with 3 seconds left.
Snyder led the Windjammers with seven points, while freshman teammate Leah Jones had 10 rebounds and five steals.
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