By CASEY OLSON, The Mirror

Normally, a 13-point loss wouldn’t be reason for optimism. But that’s just what the Thomas Jefferson girls basketball team felt after Friday night’s 63-50 loss to the Kentwood Conquerors.

Kentwood rolled through the South Puget Sound League North Division regular season last year unbeaten and lost only one player off its roster that finished second at the state tournament. In their two meetings last year, the Conquerors beat Jefferson by a combined 128 points — 101-31 and 85-27.

The loss was the first of the season for the Raiders, who had started the year 4-0.

The Raiders actually led 14-11 after the first quarter and trailed 30-26 at halftime. The Conquerors pulled away in the third quarter to take a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter.

Jefferson was led by the 17 points of Sofia Malamura. Valerie Voellger chipped in 11 points and Stacey Albrecht and Unique Taufa’asau both scored seven points.

Kentwood was led by the 26 points of Lindsey Moore.

Federal Way moved to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the SPSL North with an impressive 59-45 win over Tahoma Friday night. The Eagles jumped all over the Bears by outscoring Tahoma 17-5 in the opening eight minutes and had a 33-16 lead at halftime.

The Eagles were led by the 20 points of junior Jacqie Evenson. Freshmen Brittany Barrington and Talia Walton continued their strong seasons. Barrington finished with 18 points and Walton had 11.

The Todd Beamer girls picked up their first win of the season Friday over Spanaway Lake, 53-44.

The Titans took control of the game early by outscoring the Sentinels 21-5 in the first quarter.

Beamer (1-4 overall, 1-1 in SPSL South) had nine players score at least two points and were led by the 14 points of Kaylah Scott.

Mikki Akins and JoElle Austin scored nine points each.

Boys Swimming

The Decatur Gators rolled over the Thomas Jefferson Raiders Thursday afternoon in a SPSL North dual meet at the King County Aquatic Center, 114-61.

The Gators got a pair of individual wins from Robert Sobus in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.18) and 500 free (5:17.71). The Gators also got victories from Sean Sobus in the 50 free (25.68), Sam Green in diving (122.7 points), Keith Arns in the 100 butterfly (1:00.45), Tanner Brotherton in the 100 free (56.48), Zach Klein in the 100 backstroke (1:09.15) and Chris Ngy in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.37). The Gators also won all three relays.

Wrestling

The Todd Beamer Titans won a nail-biter over the Emerald Ridge Jaguars Thursday night, 38-37.

The Titans won seven of the first 10 matches, including pins from David Sullivan at 215 pounds, Trevor Simpkin at 119 and Alex Crumley at 145. Beamer also got individual victories from Thomas Lowery (103), Corey Obungen at 130, Tyler Enos at 135 and Trevor Mills at 140. Mills also finished second at the Battle at the Border at Blaine High School on Saturday.

Sports editor Casey Olson: 925-5565, sports@fedwaymirror.com