Anytime you have one of the top-10 rated girls basketball players in the nation on your team, you should feel good.

But Federal Way head coach Dan Graham has a worry about another top player who is sitting out the first month or so of the season with an injury.

The top 10 national player is Talia Walton, while the injured player is Brittany Barrington.

Barrington, the younger sister of Eagle graduate and Washington State University football player Andre Barrington, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) this past April.

“They say she’ll be back in January,” said Graham. “When one of your best goes down, it hurts.”

As for Walton, Graham is more than glad to get to watch her playing on his team.

“Talia Walton is considered one of the 10 best posts in the nation,” Graham said. “She’s going to go anywhere she wants.”

For college, that is, although she will be a presence anywhere on the court, too.

“She could go to Louisville, Kansas, you name it,” Graham said. “She just wants to play.”

Walton is one of three players on the team who tops out at over 6 feet in height along with Ty Bergerson and Jaleecia Roland.

“Those are three very athletic girls,” said Graham.

So the Eagles should be tough to deal with on the inside, but they have other aspects of the game in line, too.

“We’ve got some good shooters,” Graham said. “But we’re in a tough league. If we forget to block out one time, the other team gets three or four chances and we can’t afford that.”

Molly Campbell and Chantel Dixon are the team captains.

Federal Way enters its new season Saturday, Dec. 5 with a 7:30 p.m. home game against a perennially talented team in Rogers of Puyallup. From there, the Eagles jump right back into the proverbial fire with a home game against Cleveland of Seattle scheduled for Monday.

“It will show us what we need to work on real quick,” said Graham of the two contests.

Federal Way starts South Puget Sound League North Division play with a home game against Auburn-Riverside at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4.