Auburn girls can’t overcome Sumner’s fourth quarter rush at Tacoma Dome
Published 2:10 pm Thursday, March 5, 2026
It’s never easy when it comes to matchups inside the Tacoma Dome. But this year, No. 9 Auburn (21-4) took on a perennial power in the girls basketball game in the form of No. 8 Sumner (25-4) in the round of 12 inside the Tacoma Dome.
Avery Hansen tried her hardest, but it was just not enough. The star junior couldn’t get her team over the hump as the Trojans fell 51-40 on March 4.
“Auburn girls basketball, people know about it. They know we are going to show up, fight and play hard. The seniors had a lot to do with that and hopefully we can continue to do that,” head coach Jessica Hansen said.
Hansen finished with 24 of her team’s 40 points, along with three rebounds and two assists. No other Trojan scored more than seven points, and four players in total scored points for Auburn.
“They fought as hard as they could. I told them I am so proud of them, they were so fun to coach. I never came home from a practice questioning their effort or commitment to each other. There was no drama. They just wanted to win,” Hansen said. “When you get to this level, you gotta have some scoring ability.”
Hansen talked about a stage of the game in the fourth quarter where the Sumner lead was cut to four, and Auburn could not make a basket. The Trojans missed a 3-pointer and an open layup that hamstrung the comeback. Sumner outscored Auburn 12-5 in the fourth quarter to put the game on ice.
“We had some great looks and we just didn’t finish them,” Hansen said.
For Avery Hansen, she was on her A-game as she has had to be all season. At one point in the first half, she had 16 of the Trojans’ 20 points. Being her mom and her coach, Jessica asks a lot of Avery and her daughter always responds the right way. “In moments like this I am just really proud of her,” Jessica Hansen said.
It was an emotional end to the season for all Auburn players, but Coach Hansen had a moment of reflection following the loss: “She has a heart for her teammates and for winning that you don’t often see. I think she has the respect of her teammates. I am really proud of her.”
At the half, Auburn trailed 27-23 to Sumner and not only had Hansen kept up the scoring on offense, but on defense she held Sumner’s Kawehi Borden to just two points.
The loss signaled a sour end to a really promising career in Ari Deloney. The senior played her last game in an Auburn uniform and battled back from a knee injury sooner than expected to play with her teammates in her final season. She played nearly 19 minutes against the Spartans, but could not find a way to score, hauling in one rebound for the Trojans.
“Her knee isn’t full strength, her conditioning isn’t full strength. She’s just not where she was, but she’ll get there,” Hansen said. “She wanted to be on the court with her teammates. To me that shows a lot about her character and her heart.”
Auburn will look to get back to the state tournament for a fourth straight time next year and it will be a big year as Avery Hansen, Jordyn Schoenbachler, Kamryn Huttenlocker and Morgan Richardson will all be in their senior year.
“They have been here three years in a row, they want to get back. We talked in the locker room to the ones that are coming back. You can’t wait to have that drive,” Hansen said.
