Danielle Cameron is known as a basketball sharpshooter, and rightly so.
Last year in Dayton, the Olmsted Falls senior made six 3-pointers in the Division I state final loss to Cincinnati Princeton, and she also made six in the semifinal victory over Pickerington Central. She now holds state tournament records for the most made 3s in a D-I championship game and in the two-game series.
But coach Jordan Eaton wants people to know there is so much more to the guard who will be playing at Youngstown State next year.
Cameron’s all-around game was on display Jan. 15 as the Bulldogs broke out of an early shooting slump to eventually pull away from host Berlin Hiland in the final game of the Classic in the Country, defeating the Hawks, 46-39, for their first victory in three tries at the annual showcase that features many of the best teams in the state.
Eaton normally doesn’t prefer singling out one of his players, as his program has always been about team over self. But after Cameron scored half of his team’s points, led all players with 23 points and added eight rebounds and two key assists down the stretch, Eaton broke protocol.
“I don’t love to talk about just one kid, but I think people need to understand how complete she really is,” he said. “She makes our team better. That’s the main thing about her that sets her apart from some other superstar players. She’s all about making the team better, whether it’s in practice, or being vocal in timeouts. Or, on the floor, she always gives her teammates their opportunities. She never takes them away from her teammates.”
Olmsted Falls, which is now 10-3, doesn’t have a true point guard. That can be a blessing and a curse, but the Bulldogs make it work. But when Hiland turned up the heat in the fourth quarter in an attempt to duplicate the come-from-behind victory they had last year over Midview in this same setting, Eaton turned to Cameron and put the game squarely on her shoulders.
“There are kids who are great scorers,” he said. “There are kids who are great point guards. Danielle is a great basketball player. She’s complete. She’s really worked very hard on being a complete player. We posted her a lot in this game. In moments in the game when their pressure got to be so much, we decided to tell her to be the point guard, and she was the one who was able to right the ship when things weren’t going our way.”
Nothing was going the Bulldogs’ way early in the contest, as the Hawks jumped to leads of 4-0 and 9-4 and ended the opening period with a 9-6 lead. Hiland played a tight man-to-man defense that didn’t allow many good looks in the paint. Olmsted Falls tried to counter with its outside shooting, but the Bulldogs missed all eight of their 3-point attempts in the opening period.
But that changed in the blink of an eye. After Mallory Stutzman hit a 3-pointer 40 seconds into the second quarter, the Hawks had a 12-6 lead. Olmsted Falls sophomore Jesse Simon countered with a 3-pointer from the right side about 30 seconds later, which opened the floodgates. In less than 2 minutes, the Bulldogs hit another four 3-pointers, with Cameron hitting three in a row, including a straight-on bank from the top of the key.
Thus, after missing all eight of their long attempts in the first quarter, Olmsted Falls made all five of their attempts from beyond the arc in the second.
“I knew (early on) we weren’t making any, but I just said, ‘Keep shooting with confidence,’” Eaton said. “I just don’t think there’s any other way. I would love to say we need to lose shooting 3s and pound it inside, but where’s our 6-foot-4 kid? You just have to do what you do well. You’re not always going to do what you do well, but to abandon what you do well, I don’t think is a recipe for success.”
Freshman Emma Schaefer added a free throw and a layup for the Bulldogs to complete an 18-4 run that put them in front, 24-16. Olmsted Falls never trailed for the rest of the game, and the lead got as big as 14 at 40-26 after Cameron made two exceptional passes to Simon that resulted in layups with about 6 minutes to play.
However, Hiland went on a 10-1 run to cut the margin to 41-36 with 3:02 to play, electrifying the large and vocal home crowd. It appeared the Hawks might be able to pull another stunner like they did last year against Midview, which led by six entering the final period only to watch juniors Ashley Mullet and Stutzman seemingly hit everything in the final 8 minutes.
However, this time it was not meant to be, as Stutzman missed two open 3-pointers in the final 45 seconds and the Bulldogs clinched the game by hitting 5 of 8 free throws down the stretch.
Eaton said he was aware of what happened to Midview last year but added that it never crossed his mind during the game.
“I wasn’t thinking about that,” he said, “but we were guarding against what we know happens when (Hiland gets) down. They get extremely physical. It’s a good game plan. We had our moments where we were a little shaky, but I thought our girls did a great job of being strong and possessing the basketball and not panicking to a point where they could surge ahead.”
Schaefer calmly swished two free throws with 58 seconds to play, cutting off the 10-1 run by the Hawks. It was a pressure-filled moment for the freshman, as the crowd was quite vocal, and she had missed 3 of 4 free throws earlier in the game.
“That was a big moment for her,” Eaton said. “She’s a great free-throw shooter. She rarely misses them in practice. Being in the ninth grade and playing in front of a lot of people at a really high level can get in your head a little bit. That was great for her to make those two. She’s on her way to being really, really good, and that’s just part of it. She’s a gamer.”
Cameron was backed by Simon with nine points, four rebounds and three steals. The Bulldogs next play at Berea-Midpark Jan. 17.
THE SCORE (JAN. 15)
Olmsted Falls 46, Berlin Hiland 39
