Just a sloppy, turnover-laden high school girls basketball game between Federal Way and Thomas Jefferson that the Eagles won by a beak, nosing out the Raiders, 70-69, on some last-minute Brittany Barrington heroics Friday.

Or was it really that sloppy? Was this instead a preview of two talented young groups of ladies in the area that caused each other to make mistakes because they are so evenly matched? A preview of two teams headed to districts? Maybe state?

The Raiders are good this year, having already played four quarters strong against Kentwood, a team predicted to be a power at state, not just win the South Puget Sound League North. That says something. They were 7-13 last year and were hardly playoff material but this year appears to be going in a different direction. This game against the Eagles further proves that the Raiders appear ready to get back to state perhaps, where now athletic director Mike Grady took the Raider young ladies five years ago.

The Eagles indeed further prove that the Raiders are headed in the right direction by virtue of having played the Eagles tough until the end in this one and, truthfully, this game could have gone either way.

"We won and that's great,' said Federal Way head coach Danny Graham. "But to be honest, we were lucky to win this game. Freshmen carried us in the end."

The Eagles are already very close to the state level. They carried themselves to the postseason last year before losing.

"So, the Eagles were playoff material last year. And now they have virtually the same team back, certainly the lion's share of the players that were there last year, plus add in new freshmen like Barrington and Chantel Dixon.

Barrington scored 32 points in this game to lead all scorers.

And Dixon was the defensive one that perhaps changed this game around from one of going in a losing direction for the Eagles to one of going in a winning one.

She made a big difference in crunch time, a quarter of the way through the eight minute fourth quarter,to put it in simpler terms.

"Yeah, she did," said Graham of Dixon.

Graham was screaming at his team, "Get back, get back," to the whole Eagles' defense to do that, but Dixon was apparently not hearing him.

She continued to play full-court pressure, off a turnover by the Eagles on the play. It turned out to be a good thing that she stayed with the defense in the backcourt. And Graham knew she did a good thing. And he knew why it was OK to not start to get mad at Dixon for not "falling back," to put it in somewhat militaristic terms.

"These girls are basketball smart," said Graham. "I trust these girls' basketball smarts."

Dixon's play was gutty and her pursuit on the back-to-back plays totally disrupted the Raiders' ability to establish any sort of momentum continuum that seemed to be tipping their way at that point in the game, 6:10 left in the fourth quarter with a 47-45 lead and the leather.

Going back a little farther to further put in perspective Dixon's good 'd,' the score was 45-42, Raiders, ending the third quarter on an Erin Dolan long bomb. Then, starting the fourth, the Raiders extended their lead and momentum with a couple buckets by Nyssa Hovda after she was fouled on a play to the basket.

So, the Raiders at this point were definitely trying to clean up the Eagles on the Eagles own home floor.

And, it is important to note that neither team grasped any real sort of momentum up to this point all game long, there were 20 lead changes, so it was a big deal to be getting ahead by anything more than a point or two to establish momentum.

But Dixon's effort, two steals, led to two Barrington baskets, a breakaway layup and two foul shots after being fouled going to the basket, for a 49-47, Eagles lead just like that and momentum went to the Eagles. What looked like a coming loss of chance became a different happenstance.

Why didn't you guys give up when down at one point 47-42 early in the fourth, as the Raiders looked to be taking control on you guys?

"I was just thinking, play, it isn't over," said Barrington, a 5-5 shooting guard and ball handler for the Eagles, who is the two year younger sister to rushing Eagles football sensation Andre Barrington, who was in attendance, too, watching his little sis.

What else was said? There was a timeout in there too when you were quickly going down by a few points?

"Coach said this is our time," said Barrington."We are in more shape than them, to play our game."

Even after Dixon made back-to-back great plays to help her team get a 49-47 lead to take back the momentum to the Eagles two minutes into the fourth frame, the Raiders still came back three more times to take the lead. The Raiders led 53-51 with 4:30 left but then the Barrington show began where it left off for her hotly back in the first quarter.

Barrington made a three-point shot to make it 54-53, with 4:30 to go in the game. Then, after the Raiders' Sophia Malamura, a force inside for the Raiders with a team-high 15 points, not to mention a top state shot put competitor, bucketed an inside bucket off a missed three-pointer from a teammate, Barrington swished in another to make it 57-55, Eagles. And the royal blue and white clad young ladies never trailed the maroon and white unied foe again, from the four minute mark on, even though it was still close to the end.

Barrington scored again to make it 59-55 before the Raiders Unique Taufa'asau scored inside to cut the lead to 59-57. It was crunch time coming up then the final three minutes and Barrington made back-to-back baskets to make it 63-57, Eagles. The Raiders' Taufa'asau made another basket as she made six of her eight points in the fourth quarter. That made it 63-59. Next up was the game-breaker, a great run-in circus shot by Evenson as she made a layup as she was bumped out of bounds going to the rim. She was fouled on the shot that somehow went in. Evenson showed great intensity at that point, leading the Eagles as their captain. But then a minute later, with a minute and a half left in the game, she was called for a technical foul when she got a fifth foul..

"I am disappointed in our captain letting out too much emotion," said Graham. "But people make mistakes. But she's got to learn."

Evenson, a fiery competitor in track too that took third in the hurdles at state this past May, knows she made an error, not just because she lost her temper but that she lost it in the position she is in leading this team.

"I showed emotion," said Evenson. "As a captain, I just can't overreact to a call like that. I almost cost our team the game. Luckily, my freshmen teammates stepped up. If it weren't for them, I would have got yelled at more than I did (by Graham after the game). And I definitely deserved to be yelled at."

The Raiders had their chances at the end, still staying close and losing by one point thanks to Hannah Kiyohara ending the game for the Raiders with back-to-back three-pointers.