All season long, Annie Campos was a problem Henley’s opponents couldn’t solve.
It was that way even in the Hornets’ two losses, where she put up a combined 58 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists, 9 steals and 2 blocks.
So it should come as no surprise that when No. 2 seed Henley (24-2) found themselves down 38-37 to No. 1 seed Astoria (23-5) with less than a minute remaining in the OSAA 4A title game Saturday, they put their fate in the hands of the player who led them in every statistical category this season.
A layup and two free throws later, the Hornets were state champions and Annie Campos’ name was cemented in Henley lore.
“She…has had probably one of the best high school careers that Henley has ever seen,” Hornets head coach Randy Denson said. “[With] her grit and the way she works in the offseason, I’m not surprised that she’s the way she is.”
The Hornets had to survive an early power punch from the Fishermen just to set the stage for Campos’ heroics. Astoria raced out to an 8-0 lead in the first 1:34 of the game, prompting Denson to call a timeout.
“I just said relax,” Denson said. “We just needed to calm down. It was a big game, a lot of nerves, but we locked right in.”
Henley held the Fishermen scoreless for the next 5:06–a stretch that saw them miss eight shots–and took an 11-10 lead into the second quarter. The Hornets went up by five before a Maitlin Young 3-pointer ended what had become a 15-2 Henley run and made it 15-13 with 6:04 remaining in the half. Tayla Huber tied the game at 17-17 on a jumper with 41 seconds to go, but Campos hit a pair of free throws on the Hornets’ next possession to put them up 19-17 at halftime.
The lead changed hands four times in the first two minutes of the second half, but the Hornets gained a foothold after Lily Fussell’s jumper gave them a 23-22 lead at the 6:02 mark. The first four points of what would end up being nine straight from Anna Harper pushed the lead to 27-22 with 4:38 to go, and Henley ended the third quarter up 29-26.
Astoria tied the game at 32-32 thanks to a Kya Lindell three with 4:27 left in the fourth. Senia Campos (Annie’s younger sister) answered with her own three 17 seconds later, but back-to-back buckets by the Fishermen gave them their first lead in 10:44 of game time with 3:22 remaining. The game looked to be in serious danger of slipping away from the Hornets as they missed their next three shots and committed two turnovers. However, Astoria was unable to capitalize, and Harper tied the game at 37-37 with two free throws with 1:10 on the clock.
Huber drew a foul on the Fishermen’s ensuing possession and made the first free throw to put her team back in front with 41.2 seconds left. When she missed the second free throw, the rebound was briefly contested before going out of bounds off Astoria with 39.4 seconds on the clock.
On the ensuing possession, Annie Campos dribbled around the frontcourt to drain time before Denson called timeout to draw up a play with 15.1 seconds on the game clock and 11 on the shot clock.
“We wanted to kind of go opposite elbows with Annie and Harper,” Denson said. “We wanted one of them to roll backside and one [to] come up front.”
Prestyn Schade, Henley’s lone freshman, was tasked with inbounding the ball on the baseline. The Fishermen defended the initial attempt well, forcing Schade to try a pass to Anna Harper underneath that Astoria deflected out of bounds.
On the second attempt, Annie Campos broke free from her defender in the right lane, and Schade found her for an and-one layup that gave the Hornets a 39-38 lead with 12.7 seconds remaining.
“Honestly, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get the ball,” Campos said. “I thought we were going to get it to Harper because they were going to double-team me, and that was going to be completely fine.
“And then the girl overplayed me and I was able to cut, and Schade got me the ball.”
Campos missed the free throw, but the Fishermen turned it over on a botched inbound from midcourt after calling timeout with 6.9 seconds left. The Hornets put the ball back in Campos’ hands on their ensuing inbound, and Astoria fouled her with four seconds on the clock, sending her to the line for two more free throws.
Unshaken by the previous miss, she knocked down both shots, and the Fishermen’s desperation heave from halfcourt was well off the mark.
“The experience that we’ve had in other [close] games really helped us,” Campos said. “It was tough, but we knew we could come through and we did.”
The win gives Henley their fourth state championship and first since 2012 (they also won in 1980 and 1991). The Hornets’ 24 wins is tied for second most in the program’s recorded history and is the most since the 2014-15 season (the last time they made the state title game).
The only two teams to beat Henley this year both placed in the top four at the state tournament: Cascade (who beat the Hornets 74-66 Jan. 27) finished third, and Klamath Union (who beat the Hornets 65-63 Feb. 16) finished fourth.
Henley is also the first 4A school to win football and basketball state championships in the same academic year since Banks (now 3A) did it in 2018-19.
The Hornets and Fishermen put up very similar numbers statistically, with one glaring exception: Henley shot 2-of-7 (28.6%) from three, while Astoria shot 4-of-25 (16%). Both teams made 13 field goals, and the Hornets narrowly won the rebounding battle 40-39. Turnovers also made a difference, and not just on the Fishermen’s last possession; Henley scored 18 points off 15 Astoria turnovers, while Astoria scored 7 points off 12 Henley turnovers.
The Hornets held the Fishermen to their third fewest points of the season and snapped their 22-game winning streak. Both Astoria basketball teams saw their seasons end with losses to Henley this year; the Hornets boys beat the Fishermen 59-53 in the first round March 2.
Annie Campos was named the Henley player of the game for the second day in a row after finishing with a game-high 14 points, 6 rebounds (all defensive) and 5 assists; Anna Harper had her second double-double in three days with 11 points and 11 rebounds; Jewell Northcutt had 5 points; Lily Fussell had 4 points and 5 rebounds; Senia Campos had 3 points; Prestyn Schade had 2 points and 5 rebounds; and Mya Mauch had 2 points and 4 rebounds.
Annie Campos and Anna Harper were both named first team all-tournament, with Campos earning a unanimous selection. Campos led all players with 18 points and 4.3 assists per game, while Harper finished third among all players with 14 points per game and led all players with 10.3 rebounds per game.
Shelby Bruney (Prep Girls Hoops’ 15th-ranked junior in Oregon) was named the Astoria player of the game after leading the Fishermen with 10 points and 5 rebounds; Maitlin Young had 9 points and 2 rebounds; Tayla Huber had 8 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists; Malory Dundas had 3 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks; Avery Biederman had 3 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals; Kya Lindell had 3 points and 2 rebounds; Emery Young had 2 points and 3 rebounds; and Roberta Chavez Perez had 2 rebounds.
Maitlin Young and Shelby Bruney were both named first team all-tournament. Young finished fourth among all players with 13.7 points per game, while Bruney finished 10th with 9.7 points per game.
This was Astoria’s first state championship game appearance, and the Fishermen benefited heavily from their relatively close proximity to the tournament site. Forest Grove High School is about an hour and 40 minutes from Astoria and about five hours from Klamath Falls. The difference in travel time was reflected in the fan turnout; Astoria completely filled their side of the gym, including a massive student section, while Henley filled less than half of theirs. Astoria also brought their pep band and cheerleaders, further adding to a raucously pro-Fishermen atmosphere that Denson said contributed heavily to the Hornets’ early-game jitters.
Astoria’s senior class–Biederman, Young, and Lily Meadows–departs having guided the Fishermen to two of their best state tournament finishes ever. Astoria finished third at the 2023 state tournament, only the second time they had done so (somewhat ironically, they previously did it in 1981 with a win over Henley in the third place game).
Henley’s senior class–Mauch, Meredith Brown, Annie Campos, and Northcutt–ends their high school careers as state champions after finishing sixth at the state tournament last season and losing in the first round in 2022.
“I can’t speak highly enough about them,” Denson said. “They deserve it all.”
