By KRIS Hill

Covington Reporter

Kentwood held off Federal Way Friday afternoon at ShoWare Center in a West Central District playoff game for seeding into the state tournament, winning 56-54 after building up a double-digit lead by half time.

The Conquerors appeared to have the game in hand, up 32-18 at half time and pushing it to 35-22 early in the third quarter. But by the time the fourth quarter started, the Eagles had cut the lead to three, 39-36.

With 5:47 left in the game, first-year Kentwood head coach Dean Montzingo called a timeout to regroup.

“We were trying to stop their momentum and talk about what to do on offense,” Montzingo said. “We were passing too fast and not paying as much attention as to what we needed to do on offense, so we talked about fixing that.”

Montzingo added that because of Federal Way’s penchant for shooting from behind the 3-point line, particularly by Darah Huertes-Vining, who led all players with 20 points, it made it harder to get rebounds.

Junior Liz Mills said they didn’t make that many adjustments coming out of the timeout.

“We just decided to play harder and do what coach tells us,” Mills said.

From the 5:47 mark, the previously lopsided score quickly became a back and forth battle of turnovers and scoring, as the lead changed hands several times though by the end of regulation.

Kentwood had a 52-50 lead with 11 seconds left when Eagle junior Brittany Barrington tied it up from the free-throw line. The Conquerors were unable to answer offensively, sending the game into an extra session.

The back and forth tempo continued during the four-minute overtime session.

Sanda Milovic, the team’s lone senior, scored and Talia Walton answered with a bucket for Federal Way.

Kylie Huerta, Kentwood’s dynamic and diminutive point guard, fouled Dyesha Belhumeur, who hit both ends of the one and one, putting Federal Way up 54-52.

Mills tied it up with just two minutes left in the overtime period and then Huerta put away the final bucket, giving Kentwood a 56-54 lead with 1:51 left. Huerta finished the game with 17 points and Mills had 11.

Federal Way had one last shot to tie the game after a scramble for the ball at half court turned into a jump ball with the possession arrow giving the Eagles the ball with 7.7 seconds left.

Kentwood’s tough zone defense kept Federal Way from getting any good looks. After the ball was poked out of bounds, Federal Way had 3.8 seconds to get off one last shot, but Courtney Johnson pulled down the rebound sealing the win.

The Conks earned the No. 3 seed out of the West Central District to the 4A state championship tournament at the Tacoma Dome. Kentwood will take on Newport at 4 p.m. in their opener Wednesday. Federal Way earned the district’s sixth seed and will play Chiawana from the Tri-Cities at 2 p.m. in their opener. The Eagles beat Chiawana in Pasco earlier this season in a non-league game.