TACOMA - Sometimes small mistakes short-circuit monumental achievements.

After dictating the terms of battle for three quarters, the young and aggressive Mount Rainier girls' basketball team finally fell to Federal Way, 60-53, in a Thursday, March 3, Class 4A quarterfinal at the 2011 WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington/Les Schwab Tires state Hardwood Classic.

"The girls played well," Ram head coach Bob Bolam said. "We just weren't able take care of the ball and finish it off. When we made a little mistake, they'd go in for a lay in. Brittany McPhee played well again and Kiana Gandy did a good job of bodying up on Talia Walton. Our team did a good job of creating turnovers (16-11 first half, 32-20 for the game) and rebounding (18-6 first half, 34-20 for the game)."

Leading 47-45 early in the fourth quarter after freshman forward Brittany McPhee's two free throws, the running Rams of Des Moines (22-6) encountered a power outage that was initiated by the Eagles' Brittany Barrington in a Federal Way 13-2 run that sent Mount Rainier into the consolation bracket.

Barrington contributed key steals and rebounds in the Eagle stretch run that overcame an aggressive Ram tactic that had Federal Way on the defensive right from the opening tip off.

"We were playing nervous the first half," admitted Barrington, who finished with 17 points and four key steals. "Everybody was doing their own thing, but we calmed down in the second half and everybody got their touches. People say that everybody follows me, so I thought, 'I've got to step it up, and if I step it up, the next person's going to step it up and everbody will step their game up."

With Talia Walton being surrounded and pushed to the perimeter, Barrington's leadership was critical.

"She just killed us," said Bolam. "She was just unreal."

Darah Huertas-Vining kept FW in contention until the comeback, finishing with 15 points and five steals.

Applying full court pressure from the outset, Mount Rainier rode the defense to transition into a quick-passing, ball movement offense that chopped Federal Way up. Brittany McPhee was joined by Maylynn Mitchell, Amber Guillot and Codd in creating a 15-9 lead late in the first quarter, before settling for a 16-11 margin going into the second quarter.

Continually getting good looks at the basket, the Rams withstood Barrington's assaults on the basket that drew the Eagles within one point twice in the second quarter. Point guard Jordan McPhee's court generalship engineered a 12-5 Mount Rainier ascent that pushed the lead to 32-22 with 1:37 remaining in the first half.

At this point, the Rams encountered some of the small problems that kept them from holding a double-digit lead into halftime..

Federal Way (25-2) scored the final six points of the half due to poor ball protection by Mount Rainier. One of the breakaway baskets resulted from a Mount Rainier player being clobbered by a Federal Way athlete with no foul being called.

With the game becoming more of a physical nature in the second half and the Rams barely missing on inside shots and mid-range jumpers that rolled in and out, the match up turned even more brutal.

Barrington scored seven points late in the third quarter to ignite an 11-0 run for Federal Way's first lead of the game, 45-42, with 47.2 seconds remaining. Caroline Codd's steal and buzzer-beating three-point goal sent the squabbling squads into the fourth quarter at a 45-45 standoff.

"We thought that it would give us momentum," added Bolam.

At first, it appeared that would happen when Brittany McPhee drove to the basket, resulting in two converted free throws for a 47-45 Ram lead, but then Barrington took over.

Her defense on Brittany McPhee helped hold the Ram marvel to only two free throws in the final seven minutes.

Overall, Brittany McPhee, the freshman phenom, scored 27-including eight of 13 shots from the field -- to go with nine rebounds. Gandy added 10 Ram points while Jordan McPhee grabbed seven rebounds to go with six points and three steals.

The result was a bitter disappointment for the Rams as well as for senior Caroline Codd.

"Kiana and I were watching the warmups and we were excited," said Codd, who closed with four points but had six rebounds and four steals. "We wanted to win so badly."