Thievery turned into an asset in a Federal Way girls basketball win on Monday.

Federal Way continued its non-league dominance with a 69-51 subduing of tough Class 3A Metro League contender Cleveland at home.

With league play looming on Friday, Federal Way head coach Danny Graham recalled the tough outing.

"We came out a little flat and had to make second half adjustments to run our offense against their zone," he said. "No one has been as quick as us, and Cleveland is also very athletic. We escaped the first half frenzy and the girls gave a fantastic, 100 per cent effort."

Leading only 36-34 with just less than two minutes left in the third quarter, Federal Way pressure finally took its terrible toll on the visiting Eagles. Six-foot-one inch Talia Walton stole the ball and whipped a pass to Darah Huertas-Vining, who fired home a three-ball.

Two consecutive inside buckets by Walton preceded Dyesha Belhumeur's steal and length of the court lay up as the host Eagles flew away to a 47-34 command.

The fighting Cleveland Eagles put on a rush to close within 51-45 midway through the final stanza, but Federal Way stormed back with an 18-0 point blitz en route to the win.

"Everyone helped out," observed Walton, who scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds with five steals. "We needed to raise our intensity level. Everyone helped out. Cleveland plays a lttle like Auburn-Riverside (Federal Way's next opponent). They're athletic and fast."

Early action began with both squads exhibiting a willingness to play up tempo and attack. Flashing fast hands, the host Eagles utilized steal after steal to forge an 8-0 lead. Retaliating with the same strategy, Cleveland used its own athleticism and quickness to deal with the pressure and gradually eroded its deficit.

With its dominant star Cheyenne Wilson aided by Calah Scott leading the charge, Cleveland turned a 14-8 deficit after one quarter into a 19-17 lead after Scott knocked down a three-point goal with 4:50 remaining until halftime.

As Federal Way endured a scoring drought of nearly two minutes, Cleveland added four more points to enlarge its margin to 23-17. Molly Campbell's rebound basket ended the scoring outage with two minutes until halftime. Belhumuer drained two free throws to close out the first half scoring with Cleveland leading 23-21.

Nip and tuck action ensued to open the second half.

Huertas-Vining bombed in a three-pointer to give FW a 28-27 lead only to be countered by Wilson's three-pointer from the corner. Vining responded with another three-pointer to send Federal Way ahead for good, although Cleveland stayed within two to four points until it trailed 36-34 near the end of the first quarter.

"We talked about things at halftime," said Huertas-Vining, who targeted the basket with five three-point goals as part of her 18 points, nine steals, five assists and five rebounds. "We talked about wanting to win and getting back into the game."

Belhumuer enjoyed her finest game with 18 points to go along with nine rebounds and five steals. Jaleecia Roland crashed the boards for 14 rebounds.