AUBURN- When the Thomas Jefferson girls basketball team ended its regular seaon with a 6-10 South Puget Sound League 4A North division record it was one game out of the SPSL tournament.

Kentlake change the dynamics of the playoffs with an upset victory against Tahoma on Monday, Feb. 6.

As a result, the Raiders were back in the hunt in a three-way tie with Auburn and Tahoma, necessitating two mini-games of two eight minute quarters each with a one minute halftime.

Making the most of their new lease on playoff life, the Raiders earned the No. 5 SPSL North seed to the SPSL tournament with a 29-20 win against Tahoma in the second of two mini-games at Auburn Riverside High School.

With a 45-39 loss to South No. 5 Rogers, the Raiders have one more chance in a pigtail game for the No. 10 seed.

"We had a slow start," said TJ head coach Jerry Krueger of the Tahoma win. "There was an adrenaline drop after winning the first game and we made a few mistakes. The key was getting them in foul trouble early. We always play good defense. Once we shook off the blahs, the important part was to put down some shots. I'm proud of our post players who fought against taller people."

Locked in a 14-14 tie with just more than five minutes remaining in the final quarter, Jefferson gained strong separation from the Bears beginning with Jada Piper's powerful, down the lane basket.

Ever hustling Christina Kullberg passed the ball inside to Piper, resulting in a pair of converted free throws.

With 2:20 left, Kullberg downed two free throws to make the score 20-14.

As Lexi Goranson and Jaylynn Piper joined Jada Piper and Kullberg in the fray, the Raiders pulled away with a 9-6 charge to victory.

Tahoma gave it one more run, turning a 25-15 deficit into a 26-20 difference with 52.8 seconds remaining, but a trio of Jada Piper free throws ended any Bear hopes of winning.

"We really wanted to get to the playoffs and make up for earlier in the season," said Kullberg, who was a key on the boards and defense.

Jefferson had to overcome an early 8-2 deficit against Tahoma to close in within 8-6, thus setting up a charge that kept it within 8-6 after one quarter as part of the 11 point surge.

Jada Piper led the way with 17 points on an assortment of athletic drives.

In the opening mini-game, Jefferson eliminated Auburn 25-12 with defense and nervous tension ruling the action early in bumper car style play.

Trailing 4-2, the Raiders were creating good shot chances, although unable to capitalize well until junior Chevay Warnes rebounded and scored off her own miss at 3:43 of the first quarter to power up an 11-0 TJ charge that lasted nearly seven minutes for a 13-4 Raider lead with just more than five minutes reamaining in the second and final quarter.

Jada Piper was the key contributor with six points of the run. Jasmine Tomac's three-pointer ended the Trojan drought ahead of a 12-5 Jefferson scoring advantage that closed out the game.

Piper was joined by her sister, Jalynn, Warnes, Kullberg and Lexi Goranson in the stretch run. That kept Tahoma turned away.

"Auburn has big players that can play tough," concluded Krueger. "Once we hit a few shots, we got going."

Piper led Jefferson with nine points with Warnes scoring five points and Kullberg four.

"We were geared up," said Piper. "I relied on my teammates to support me."