The Auburn Mountainview Lions boys went home, but the girls basketball team is moving on to the Tacoma Dome for the first time in school history.

The girls took down North Thurston on Feb. 24 at Tumwater High School, 39-27. The girls defense has held opponents to under 30 points for three consecutive playoff games. It’s a feat that they had only done during the regular season twice, and have now done it three games in a row.

The girls took on Lakeside from Seattle at 10:30 a.m. March 1 (after press time) inside the Tacoma Dome.

The Auburn Mountainview boys have been eliminated from the state tournament by Bellevue High School by a score of 64-35.

“I can’t be upset about anything. The fact that we were here, down two starters and a sixth man. I’m proud, as much as I feel sad. I couldn’t be more proud,” Lion Head Coach Kendall White said.

The loss doesn’t depict how well of a season the Lions had. They had to battle through injuries and adversity all season. White started his tenure during 2020. Even though it is his third year at the helm, he sees it as “year 2.5.”

“They’ve grown a ton. My first year here we had four wins. Three years later we made it to the second round of the state tournament, that’s just a testament of their work throughout the season,” White said.

Senior Ryder Alfrey is one of the vocal leaders of the Lions, who suffered a knee injury in the West Central District semifinal game against Auburn and was sidelined for the next two games with a MCL tear.

“We had a lot of trials along the way.. The fact that we’re here is a blessing, it’s amazing.”

The Lions struggled to get anything going offensive in what would be the last game of their season. Going into halftime the only players to score for the Lions were Jamaal Elliot and Mande Wanlemvo.

“I think the nerves were just a little too much… The stage might have been a little too big. Over the last two weeks the guys who stepped up were not guys in these positions all season. We had JV guys stepping up and end of the bench guys stepping up. I think we were just a little nervous,” White said.

The lone bright spot for Auburn Mountainview was Jamaal Elliot, he scored 19 of the 35 Mountainview points in the contest.

The first player whose last name was not Wanlemvo or Elliot to score was freshman Cody Bennion in the middle of the third quarter.

The Lions never got their footing in this game, at times it seemed that there was a lid on the hoop and nothing would fall for Auburn Mountainview.

Next season the Lions have some key returning players including Wanlemvo and others who were injured early in the year, “I think we’ll be better next year.. We return a lot of experience, but you can’t replace guys like Jamaal and Ryder that hurts. But they got to learn from some great kids,” White said.