The Federal Way Eagles looked like they were going to cruise to the championship at the Holiday Inn Express Invitational at North Idaho College Dec. 30 in Coeur d’Alene.

The top-ranked Eagles were leading Coeur d’Alene High School Thursday in the title game of the eight-team tournament by 10 points midway through the fourth quarter. But the defending Idaho state 5A champions came all the way back to hand Federal Way its first loss of the season, 70-69.

Coeur d’Alene junior Erin Legal tallied eight of her 14 points during the fourth-quarter comeback by the Vikings, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 30.4 seconds remaining.

Federal Way rolled out to a 63-53 lead with less than four minutes remaining in the game. But Coeur d’Alene outscored the Eagles 17-6 down the stretch to walk away with the victory.

Federal Way junior point guard Darah Huertas-Vining attempted to get off a game-winning shot, but it was blocked in the lane by Coeur d’Alene senior Carli Rosenthal at the buzzer. Rosenthal finished with 19 points and Kyeli Parker led the Vikings with 22.

Federal Way was led by the 24 points of senior Tyshana Burgess, University of Washington-bound senior Talia Walton finished with 12 and Tanji Ajeto chipped in 11.

The loss to Coeur d’Alene came after the Eagles defeated two other Class 5A Inland Empire League teams during the first two days of the tournament. Federal Way downed Idaho’s top-ranked team, Lewiston, Wednesday in the semifinals and beat Lake City in the opening round.

“We came here wanting to play good teams,” head coach Danny Graham told the Coeur d’Alene Press newspaper. “We ended up playing three great teams. I’m really happy we came. I’m proud of the team for their effort this week. Tonight was a fun game. They’re a great team.”

Federal Way gets back to its South Puget Sound League South Division schedule Tuesday night at home against Rogers.

The Eagles earned the berth in the Holiday Inn Express Invitational championship with an impressive 68-57 win over Lewiston on Wednesday.

Lewiston entered the game unbeaten and as the No. 1-ranked team in Idaho.

Against Lewiston, Federal Way dominated from the opening tip. The Eagles raced out to a 20-11 lead after the first quarter. The Bengals made a little comeback during the second period to cut the Eagle lead to 34-29. But Federal Way took back control of the game by outscoring Lewiston, 17-11, in the third quarter.

The Eagles were led by the 24 points of Walton and also got 18 from Huertas-Vining.

The victory over Lewiston came a day after Federal Way beat Lake City (Idaho) in the first round of the Holiday Inn Express Invitational, 57-49. Lake City was the fourth-ranked team in Idaho.

Federal Way got a solid all-around game from Walton. The senior had 14 points, nine rebounds, five blocked shots and five steals. Walton teamed with Burgess (11 points) on the low block to create several high-low layups.

Other girls basketball action:

at Foster 53, Beamer 49 — The Titans (5-3 overall) dropped a non-league game to Class 2A Foster Tuesday night in the opening round of the Northwest All-Stars Tournament at Wilson High School in Tacoma. Shyla Akins finished with a team-high 16 points and Meghan Graf chipped in 14 points for Beamer.