Pressure on the ball processed itself into control of the court on Tuesday night in a Federal Way 66-38 thrashing of Kentlake in South Puget Sound League North girls basketball action at Federal Way.

After a holiday season that included victories against state Class 4A No. 2 Lewis & Clark plus a 55-48 win at No. 8 Chiawana of Pasco, the Eagles dominated the Falcons (8-2 overall) all the way to improve their overall win-loss record to 8-2 and conference record to 4-2.

Current No. 2 state-ranked Federal Way still trails unbeaten and No. 1 ranked Auburn-Riverside (6-0), Kentwood (5-1) and Kentlake (5-1) in the North division.

"Playing these tough games really helped us raise our level," admitted Eagle head coach Danny Graham. "We've done a great job of preparation in practice and our girls always play hard."

Federal Way broke away from a tight 7-6 first quarter lead with a 9-0 surge. Trapping defense ignited the offensive run that was triggered by Molly Campbell's outside field goal. Darah Huertas-Vining and TyShana Burgess excelled for Federal Way and foreshadowed the huge roles they would play in the dominant defense and opportunistic offense.

Trailing 16-6 after one quarter, Kentlake drew within 19-13 on a Jessica Barnes three-point goal before Talia Walton and Brittany Barrington led the Eagles to a 25-14 halftime margin.

Pressure on the ball continued for the Eagles until it exploded with pulsating power in the third quarter. Intensity became the theme as the defense prompted Burgess to score six consecutive points ahead of Huertas-Vining's eight straight points against two Kentlake points as Federal Way powered to a 39-16 lead.

Dividing playing time liberally among their cast of players, the Eagles led 50-26 after three quarters and cascaded to a game-high margin of 29 points in the fourth quarter before closing out the one-side encounter.

"The simple fact is that I was energized because I was hearing about how good Kentlake was," declared the 5-foot, 10-inch Burgess. "I had to think above that level. Playing these nonleague games gave us chemistry and that means everything."

Burgess energized herself to 19 points, eight rebounds and two steals while Huertas-Vining popped in 18 points with five assists while recovering four steals.

In the spread around scoring scheme, 6-foot, 1-inch Jaleecia Roland notched eight points and 6-foot, 1-inch Talia Walton totaled seven with seven boards and four assists.

Kentlake featured no double figures scoring. Morganne Comstock, who is 6-1, led the Falcons with nine points, well below her normal scoring output.

Federal Way solidly shackled Kentlake in all phases of the game while completely nullifying the Falcon front line that included two girls that averaged six-feet tall as partners for Comstock.