By CASEY OLSON, The Mirror
It just wasn’t meant to be for the Federal Way High School girls basketball team.
The Eagles fell one victory short of qualifying for the Class 4A state basketball tournament with a 58-44 loss to Graham-Kapowsin on Friday night at Auburn High School in a winner-to-state, loser-out game at the West Central District Tournament.
Federal Way (19-6) just couldn’t get anything going all night long against Graham-Kapowsin and senior guard Jen Cogburn.
Cogburn scored nine of her game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter to give Graham-Kapowsin the school’s first state berth in basketball. They advance as the No. 5 seed from the West Central District and play Pasco today in the Tacoma Dome.
Graham-Kapowsin (19-6) built up a huge 32-17 lead at halftime and led 10-2 early in the first quarter.
The Eagles just couldn’t get anything going on the offensive end of the court. Federal Way finished the game shooting just 25.3 percent from the field.
The Eagles were led by the 14 points of freshman guard Brittany Barrington, and TyShanna Burgess chipped in 13 points.
Burgess, a 5-foot-10 freshman, got plenty of playing time on Friday night because of a knee injury to Talia Walton during Wednesday’s district game. Walton was averaging 12.5 points a game and leading Federal Way in rebounding at 10 a game. The 6-1 Walton wasn’t on the bench for Friday’s loss to Graham-Kapowsin.
Despite the loss, the future looks ultra-bright for the Federal Way girls program. Not only does head coach Danny Graham return Walton, Barrington and Burgess, but also returning will be junior Jacqie Evenson and freshman Chantel Dixon. Barrington led the Eagles in scoring at 13.8 a game and Evenson chipped in 11.4. Dixon was Federal Way’s fourth leading scorer at six points a game.
Despite the immense amount of youth on this year’s roster, the Eagles finished 11-3 in the South Puget Sound League North Division, which was good enough for second place behind Kentwood.
Sports editor Casey Olson: 925-5565, sports@fedwaymirror.com
