Sumner’s Olivia Collins is TNT’s 2025 All-Area player of the year
Olivia Collins was happy to play a supporting role during her first two basketball seasons at Sumner High School. Reserved by nature, Collins always preferred to let her play do the talking.
Then Lainee Houllion — the fiery, emotional leader of Sumner’s 2023-24 squad — graduated, and Collins was thrust into a leading role. Sumner coach Katie Hyppa challenged her to be a vocal leader, to handle the ball more, to lock down the opposing team’s best player on the defensive end, to be more assertive attacking the hoop and scoring.
Collins rose to the occasion, leading Sumner to the Class 4A state championship game at the Tacoma Dome. She is The News Tribune’s 2025 All-Area girls basketball player of the year.
“Overall, I’d say this was my most consistent year,” she told The News Tribune during a photo shoot at Sumner High School on Sunday.
Collins averaged 16.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and three assists per game. Alongside sophomore teammate Kawehi Borden, she was named the co-MVP of the 4A South Puget Sound League’s North Division. She was named to the 4A all-tournament team at the Tacoma Dome. All season, she made an impact.
“She knew and we knew we were gonna need her to be both sides of the ball, all game, every game,” Hyppa said. “Her consistency was incredible, and it wasn’t just on the offensive side of the basketball. It was defensively, night in and night out, she guarded the opposing team’s best player almost every game.
“To be able to do that on both sides of the ball is something that as a coach and our staff, we recognize is incredibly hard, obviously, but for her to be able to do it and still produce on the offensive end, we were just so proud of her in that regard.”
The season highlight came on the road in Yakima, where Sumner played top-seeded Davis in a state tournament regional round game. Trailing by 12 points in the fourth quarter, Collins scored seven of her team-high 22 points in the final minute and a half of the game to key a Spartans’ upset.
Although Davis avenged its loss a week later in the state championship game against Sumner, Collins’ performance was something Hyppa has come to expect from her steady junior. Collins scored in transition and at the rim often this winter, but it was when she got hot from deep that things clicked most for the Spartans. When Collins was in rhythm and hitting jump shots, she was difficult to slow down.
“She gets a look in her eyes, and it doesn’t necessarily matter what play you call, she’s gonna find a way to get her shot up,” Hyppa said. “When she’s feeling it, it’s something that’s hard to beat. There’s nothing defensively that you can do against it, because she’s going to be able to get her shot off where she’s comfortable.”
Collins returns for her senior year next winter, alongside Borden, a coveted recruit who figures to take a leap between her sophomore and junior seasons.
“We have the best 1-2 punch in the state, and it shows every time,” Collins said. “I’ve been playing with her since I was really little. Just seeing us play high school ball and going above and beyond for state, I think it’s amazing.”
Sumner should have the pieces to make it back to the state championship game again next season. Maybe a rematch with Cheyenne Hull and the Davis Pirates is in the cards.
“If we keep playing how we did this year, combined with the girls who are coming back next year, we’re going back to the championship, for sure,” Collins said.
And Collins will be front and center.
“She does everything really, really well,” Hyppa said. “She was very consistent across the board with points, rebounds, steals, all of that. But taking it up another notch and continuing to lead this team. She’s gonna have a big year next year and I’m excited to see her at the helm of this team.”
This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
