Auburn girls tough out win against North Thurston

Published 1:40 pm Wednesday, December 3, 2025

It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t pretty, but the Auburn Trojan girls basketball team gutted out a 53-44 win over North Thurston on Dec. 2 at home for their third straight win to open up the 2025-26 season.

What sticks out about this game is that Auburn made just two field goals in the entire second half, none in the third and two in the fourth. But on defense, the Trojans also held the Rams without a field goal in the fourth quarter, holding them to just two points.

“We talked about how last year we lost to them here during a stretch where we lost a couple of close games. I feel like we have grown in that category. We were able to grit it out and make a couple big shots down the stretch and a couple of big stops. I am proud of our girls,” Head Coach Jessica Hansen said.

There’s a different look to this year’s Auburn team with Kaleesa Howard transferring to Centennial High School (Corona, CA) and Ari Deloney still nursing an injury. The Trojans are looking for supplemental players to step up. But one thing is for certain, Avery Hansen is continuing to dominate.

“I feel like it’s good we are playing really tough because we lost a couple of players. I feel like girls are stepping up and playing extra tough and gritty,” Avery Hansen said after the win.

It was a rough shooting night for Auburn, as they shot as a team just 25% from the floor. However, Hansen led from the free-throw line, and her ability to draw contact and not only get to the free throw line, but cash in on those attempts, was an offseason focus.

“In the games before this, I feel like I wasn’t shooting from the free throw line very well. It just felt good to see them go down tonight,” Avery said.

In the fourth quarter alone, she made nine-of-ten free throws, which, when you only score five points as a team from the floor, goes a long way.

“Avery knocked free throws down and that was huge. That’s another area of growth for her. It was good to see her step up in those moments. She gets a lot of contact,” Hansen said of her daughter.

Auburn jumped out a blistering 22-9 lead after the first quarter against a North Thurston team that did lose a Division I player in Soraya Ogaldez (University of North Florida) last season. But North Thurston still had the supporting cast to take home a third place trophy last season at the state tournament.

Avery Hansen had nine points in the first quarter, and her supporting cast chipped in as well. Junior Jordyn Schoenbachler and Kamryn Huttenlocker both had five first-quarter points and Morgan Richardson added three of her own.

“We were hitting shots, we were making lay-ins, that helps. Defensively we were dialed in and keeping them in front,” coach Hansen said.

It looked like as long as the Trojans controlled the ball, and kept up this pace on offense, North Thurston would fall just like Decatur and Enumclaw before it.

But the Rams, to their credit, battled back. Late in the second quarter, North Thurston cut what was a 13-point deficit down to three, but two late lay-ins from Hansen shot Auburn back in front 33-25 at halftime.

The Rams cut the Trojans’ scoring in half in the second quarter and forced Auburn to get through a full-court press that caused some problems for the Trojans.

The third quarter was a nightmare for Auburn. The Trojans shot the ball 14 times from the floor and missed every shot. If not for Avery Hansen reaching the charity stripe six times and making five of them, this might be a different story.

“Part of it is we need to slow down and finish. A lot of these girls are playing in a lot bigger roles than they have played before. We are filling in with three girls who swung to JV last year, and now they are playing starting minutes and a lot of the game,” coach Hansen said.

But Avery Hansen showed a grit and determination of a high level basketball player and a will to win, and that’s why she is the reigning 3A NPSL player of the year.

“I think their zone did something to us. But it was a mentality thing, a next play mentality. The next one will go down, just keep shooting. That’s what we keep telling our team,” Avery Hansen said.

The team’s struggles continued into the fourth quarter as North Thurston led 42-39 in the fourth quarter. But Auburn went on a 5-0 run to tie the game and finally snapped the field goal drought on a Jayden Lewis two-pointer with 5:52 left in the game.

Huttenlocker’s three points in the fourth was the only other made shot in the game, besides of course Hansen’s nine free throws.

Coincidentally, North Thurston was held without a field goal in the third quarter. The Rams put up 13 shots and Shayla Cordis’ two free throws were the only points North Thurston could muster. Eight of those 13 shots were three-pointers from North Thurston in the fourth quarter. In the game, the Rams made just two threes on 21 opportunities. “It ain’t pretty, but we got it done,” Auburn’s coach said.