Federal Way's girls basketball team has a lot to talk about of late.

The Eagles are winners of seven of their last nine contests, including a road win over rival Decatur, 45-32, in the South Puget Sound League North Thursday.

Federal Way improved to 7-4 in league and 10-7 overall, while the Gators dropped to 3-8 and 4-12.

The game was won for the Eagles in the second half.

"We spread the offense in the second half and did a good job of cutting to the basket and hitting the open runners," said Danny Graham, head coach of the Eagles who have won four in a row.

This game was 22-18, Eagles, going into halftime, but when the Eagles came out in the second half it was like a whole different team, offensively and defensively. Offensively, they made 48 percent of their shots in the third quarter or 7-for-13 from the floor while they down-notched their shots on basket a bit but still were 3-for-6 for 50 percent shooting in the fourth quarter. Also, after causing just four Gator turnovers the first two quarters the Eagles harassed their area foe into 12 of them in the final two quarters including seven in the decisive third quarter. But let's back up.

It was 15-5 after the first quarter behind seven points from the Eagles' senior guard, Bree Rowe, who captained the girls soccer team, too. She had help from fellow soccer player, senior, guard, Cayla Dixon, who swished a three-pointer in the first that staked the Eagles to that 10-point lead early.

Then came the Gators behind Gena Woodke in the second quarter to make a game of it. Woodke, who missed 3-of-4 in the first quarter from the floor herself before going ballistic inside with the basketball, getting five rebounds in frame two, and to that add 14 for the game. She used her 5-10 rugged frame to lead all scorers with seven points in the second quarter alone that brought her team to within four at halftime, 22-18.

The senior, Woodke, who took 11th at state in the shot put in track and field last spring, did not choose to say things about herself including a game-high 15 points.

"The team works real hard," she said.

Woodke is in her last season and she has carried a lot of the scoring load for the team which had the next highest scorer in this game with just four points. Speaking of her teammates, all Woodke would say is, "They try and put their heart out there. All they can do is their best. All I can do is my best."

Speaking of best, she outscored the Eagles, 13-7, in the second quarter.

"Yes, we had a good second quarter," Woodke said.

The Eagles had all the other good quarters with their blue and white blur defense really stepping on the clamps in the second, leading to so many miscues for the navy blue and gold uniformed ladies.

"Defense is our strong suit,' said Graham. "Our tallest girl is only 5-9 so that (defense) is something we have to focus on every game."

In the third quarter, after the Gators' Woodke cut the Eagles' lead to 22-20 with a rebound and basket on her own miss, it was, mostly, all Eagles as Rita Helmbrecht ran a running lay-in, Rowe made 2-for-2 from the stripe and Dixon made another runner layup. And the Eagles literally were off to the races, also getting baskets from sophomore Amada Earlywine and Breana Bennett to up the lead to 34-25 with a minute left in the third quarter. It actually was 24-20, then Woodke's bucket cut it to 24-22 before Rowe's two free throws had made it 26-22. Woodke made 2-of-2 from the line. So the beginning of the third quarter was pretty close actually, unless 28-24 with three minutes left in the third is not a close ball game.

It still was not a real good shooting percentage overall for the Eagles, who made 15-of-38 from the floor including 2-for-11 in the second quarter. Their free throw shooting was 4-for-12 to the Gators' 7-for-11. But the never-making-the-ball-to-the-basket turnovers the Eagles caused added up in more ways than one, as the Gators made 11-for-23 from the floor, which is, if added up, 15 less shots on the hoop than their foe. That pretty much sums it up. The Eagles' defense bucked up in the third, and stayed strong throughout the rest of the game.