Frontier’s Alexis Livingston, right, handles the ball as Cameron’s Kendra Thomas defends during the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference 1A championship game Saturday at the ECO Center in St. Clairsville, Ohio. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Despite having won the last four Ohio Valley Athletic Conference 1A championships, not many people expected Cameron to even get back to the conference title game.

The three-time defending state champion Dragons graduated four starters from last year’s squad, leaving plenty of question marks for this season’s squad.

The 2024-25 Cameron girls proved a lot of doubters wrong Saturday at St. Clairsville’s ECO Center, defeating Frontier 57-41 to claim their fifth straight OVAC title.

“I think this one means a little more for this group,” said Cameron head coach Holly Pettit. “We graduated four starting seniors last year, so people maybe thought we weren’t going to make it very far. We had a lot to prove. This group has worked really hard to prove how good they are. They got to practice with some of the best players these last few years and I think today it showed.”

Maci Neely, Cameron’s lone returning starter, and Kendra Thomas shared game-high scoring honors with 20 points apiece to lead the Dragons. Thomas, just a freshman, was selected as the game’s Most Valuable Player.

“They could’ve been co-MVPs,” Pettit said. “Kendra’s capable of stepping into that role and being a leader any time. As a freshman, that’s big. Maci, our girls feed off her. If she’s playing a good game, everybody’s playing a good game.”

Macey Bertram added 12 points for CHS. Bertram and Thomas dished out three assists apiece while Aubrey Thomas grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.

Frontier head coach Mike Cisler raved about Cameron’s defense ahead of Saturday’s game, and the Dragons ultimately proved him right.

“It affected our thinking process on offense,” said Cisler, whose Cougars shot 32.5% (13 for 40) and committed 19 turnovers to Cameron’s nine. “Their defensive pressure is what caused us to look like what we did today.”

Tied at 6-all in the first, Kendra Thomas scored the final five points of the opening period to put Cameron up 11-6. A 7-0 run early in the second stretched the Dragons’ lead to 12, 20-8, and later a 10-0 run made it 30-11. Frontier’s Anna Bowersock stopped the bleeding with a jumper just before halftime, but Cameron went into intermission up 17.

“We’re not a team that’s built to come from 14, 15 points down,” said Cisler, whose team was 4 for 16 (25%) from the floor in the first half.

“We didn’t shoot very well in the first and second quarter. We missed, I don’t know how many, four or five bunnies, and that made a difference. They went on that run and we just could never recover. We knew coming in Neely was the best player on the floor, and the Thomas girl did a really nice job for a freshman.”

Willow Smitley opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer, but a pair of baskets by Neely helped stretch Cameron’s lead to 20, 36-16, at the 4:22 mark.

Kelsey Dye and Keeley Barrows each knocked down a 3-pointer to get the Cougars within 12, 38-26, but a pair of baskets by Kendra Thomas stretched the margin back to 16 by the end of the third.

The Dragons led by as many as 22 points in the fourth

“I knew we were both guard-heavy teams, and I wanted to put a lot of pressure on their guards,” said Pettit, whose team scored 22 points off turnovers. “I think we executed that really well. Macey Bertram and Maci Neely played great defensive games. They put a lot of pressure on their guards, caused some turnovers and ultimately I just think it threw them for a loop.”

Dye paced Frontier with 13 points while Bowersock added 11. Dye and Bowersock pulled down six boards each. Alexis Livingston scored seven points off the bench while Smitley tallied a game-high three steals.

Though they fell short of the conference title, getting to the finals checks off one of the Cougars’ biggest preseason goals.

“Proud of my girls,” Cisler said. “We’ll have all five starters back next year. Hopefully this experience helps them out going forward. It’s a tournament atmosphere here. We’ve got to go get ready for a sectional game next Wednesday at home against Caldwell. It’ll be a dogfight.”

Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@newsandsentinel.com.