Everybody knew the Federal Way Eagles were a good basketball team entering Tuesday night’s South Puget Sound League North Division tiebreaker with the two-time defending Class 3A state champion Auburn Riverside Ravens.
Federal Way finished 13-3 in the rugged SPSL North and came into the game as the eighth-ranked team in Washington.
But, the young and talented Eagles needed to prove to themselves that they are an elite team.
Mission accomplished.
Federal Way secured the North’s second seed into the SPSL Tournament Tuesday with an impressive 66-63 victory over the seventh-ranked Ravens at Auburn High School. The two teams finished in a tie for second after splitting their two regular-season meetings.
“This was more than a win for us,” said Eagle head coach Danny Graham. “We proved that we were not going to back down. We were not going to accept someone giving us a defeat.”
The Eagles (17-4) will take on the Rogers Rams (13-6) at noon Saturday at Auburn High School in an SPSL Tournament game. Auburn Riverside (15-6) plays Puyallup (12-8) at 10 a.m.
Things didn’t start out too good for Federal Way Tuesday against the Ravens. In fact, they couldn’t have started worse. Auburn Riverside built a 15-point lead at the half and seemed in total control of the game midway through the third quarter.
But that’s when it all turned around for Federal Way. The Eagles erupted on a 17-1 scoring barrage to get back in the game. And eventually built the lead to seven, 62-55, with just over a minute to play. Auburn Riverside cut the gap to just one, 64-63, with 3.3 seconds remaining before sophomore guard Brittany Barrington hit a pair of clutch free throws to finalize the score.
“We just had a lot more heart,” Graham said. “Our girls played hard. Being down by 15 at the half and getting it handed to you wasn’t real fun. We came out a little nervous at the beginning. We are still a very young team.”
Barrington led Federal Way with 20 points and senior guard Jacqie Evenson had a solid all-around game with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists. But it was the inside dominance of 6-foot sophomore TyShana Burgess and 6-foot-2 sophomore Talia Walton that proved too much for the small, but extremely quick Ravens. Burgess finished with 19 points and nine rebounds and Walton had eight points, 14 rebounds and three blocks.
“We knew we had to be physical with them,” Graham said. “And we did play physical in the second half.”
Also helping Federal Way during their second-half comeback Tuesday was the pro-Eagle crowd filing into Auburn High School to watch the No. 1-ranked Federal Way boys take on No. 2 Kentwood in another tiebreaker game.
“It was nice to play before our boys,” Graham said. “We got a lot of energy from the crowd. It’s really the first time our girls have played in front of a crowd like this.”
Saturday’s contest between Federal Way and Rogers (13-6) is a rematch from earlier this season when the Eagles blew out the Rams, 62-40, on Dec. 2. The winner will earn the SPSL’s third seed into the West Central District Tournament and host the SPSL’s seventh seed in the opening round Feb. 18. The loser will be the league’s fourth seed and host the fifth-place team from the Narrows League in the first round. The top-six finishers at the 16-team district tournament advance to the Class 4A State Girls Basketball Championships inside the Tacoma Dome.
“It’s all about matchups,” Graham said. “We are just now realizing that we are good. They just have to believe that every day.”
