The Clackamas Cavaliers Women’s Basketball team beat the South Medford Panthers 56-46 in the OSAA 6A Women’s Basketball Tournament to cap off their stunning 26-4 season over the weekend. 

After the game, the Compass had the opportunity to interview Davidson Women’s Basketball commit and Senior at Clackamas Eliza Buerk. After winning the game at the Chile’s Center, Eliza was asked what was going through her head when she heard the buzzer. “I was ecstatic. Winning a state championship has been a dream of mine my entire life, and to finally see that realization was a feeling like no other. I don’t remember what exactly was going through my mind, but I know I was happy and it was an incredible feeling to know that we had won it. I was also emotional because that was my last time on the court with all of my teammates, and after having played with them for so long, it was hard to know that was the last game we’d ever play together.”

Because the season is often filled with emotion, hard work, and late practices, Eliza was asked about how she felt the time paid off. “Every single one of us sacrificed so much throughout the season in order to get here and clearly it paid off. We spent hours and hours in the gym, as a team and individually. Every single moment that we spent in the gym together was worth it in order to get to this point.”

Being a freshman at La Salle College Prep Academy, Eliza initially didn’t have a 6A championship on her mind. When asked if she could have imagined being a champion in her senior year, she replied, “as a freshman, I imagined myself as a 5A Champion at La Salle but our season got cut short because of Covid. I’m not sure if I would’ve imagined myself as a 6A Champion, but as a senior, I absolutely could imagine myself as a 6A Champion and I frequently did throughout the season. From the beginning of the season, I knew if the team bought in how we all said we were going to, we would for sure have a realistic shot at winning state.”

After Eliza’s dominant senior campaign, she looks to take her talents down south to Davidson College where players such as NBA All-Star Stephen Curry played. Upon asking Eliza what this win means for her future in basketball she humbly said, “winning state has always been a goal of mine, but ultimately it won’t have a huge impact on my career in the future. It’s a really cool achievement, and very few people will have the opportunity to become a State Champion, but at the end of the day, we just won another game that just happened to be the state championship. I will be continuing my basketball career at Davidson College in North Carolina!”

Wrapping up the interview, we asked the one question that was on everyone’s mind. What is your favorite Marvel or DC superhero and why. Eliza thought for a second and said, “my favorite Marvel superhero has gotta be Black Widow because she doesn’t have any superpowers, but she’s still a superhero because she had the talent and drive to make a difference.”

With the end of the season here, Clackamas says goodbye to their Seniors like Eliza that helped them to a 6A championship and looks to continue their reign with incoming Junior sensation Jazzy Davidson.