Heartbreak: Sumner falls just short against Woodinville in 4A title game, 65-63

Even as the Sumner Spartans were mourning what could have been on Saturday night, their coaches already had a message for sophomore Lainee Houillon and the rest of the Spartans underclassmen.

Sure, Sumner was less than an hour removed from a heart-breaking 65-63 Class 4A girls state championship game loss to the Woodinville Falcons. The last-second defeat at the Tacoma Dome wasn’t the ideal ending they’d wished for the program’s first-ever trip to the state rounds.

Still, prior to Thursday Sumner (25-3) never had won a game at the ultimate venue. In fact, the last and only time a Spartans basketball team played for a title was in 1960 when the boys team finished second.

Now, the girls program is 2-1 at the Dome and owns that experience. The firsts for Sumner, though, have history and experience in charge.

“We talked tonight, to Lainee specifically,” Sumner coach Katie Hyppa said. “(Assistant coach) Nichole (Jackson) and I, we lost heart-breakers here our freshmen and sophomore years. Then we won back-to-back titles.”

Hyppa and Jackson won 4A championships with Auburn Riverside in 2007 and 2008. And in this staff’s first year at the helm in Sumner they came within a few seconds of winning another, this time as coaches.

Instead, Veronica Sheffey and the Falcons (25-1) found Woodinville’s first championship in eight state appearances. The Falcons (25-1) have played in three of the past four 4A championship games.

A championship game on Saturday that had haymaker after haymaker from the stars on both sides came down to the last 12 seconds to be decided. In that moment, tied at 63-63, Sheffey saw the shot.

The Falcons senior guard bolted toward the rim. Sumner’s 6-foot-1, all-everything senior Alyson Deaver presented the resistance, and forced Sheffey to fade away slightly.

It didn’t matter. Sheffey made the shot that broke the tie and became the game-winner.

“I had the 16-foot shot,” Sheffey said. “But I saw the opening, so I went.”

The ball came out of the net with 12 seconds to play and Sumner called timeout with 10 seconds left. Whatever play Hyppa drew up didn’t work, and with just over two seconds left, she used her final timeout.

And Deaver got open. What she didn’t get was the ball.

“Wide open,” Hyppa said. “I’m glad you guys saw that, too. I think we maybe weren’t patient enough for that play. It’s not a play we run. It’s just something we drew up.”

Catelyn Deaver had the ball to inbound. Alyson Deaver used the screens in front and dove down the lane toward the basket, but the developing play took an extra moment and by the time she was free the ball already had been inbounded.

And Sumner never got a shot up as the buzzer sounded and sent the Woodinville bench into hysterics.

“Great high school game,” Woodinville coach Scott Bullock said. “We’re really fortunate to be the team that finished on top because our kids would make a big bucket and they would come back and answer.”

Woodinville controlled long portions of the first and third quarters. The Falcons built a 25-16 lead after the first eight minutes, only to have Sumner respond with a 14-4 spurt in the second to take a 30-29 lead.

Woodinville extended again with an 8-0 run to begin the second half for a 41-30 advantage. And again the Spartans responded, with a 13-3 burst to to close to within one point, 44-43, on a Houillon 3-pointer with 2:29 left in the third.

Houillon and the Deavers scored all 15 of Sumner’s points in the fourth, trading baskets with Sheffey, Tatum Thompson and Brooke Beresford for Woodinville. Catelyn Deaver’s 3-pointer with 1:18 left forged another tie, at 61-61, then Thompson and Houillon traded baskets to set up the final 12 seconds.

This story was originally published March 5, 2022 at 9:42 PM.