PORT ORCHARD — Klahowya was fresh off the first winning season in program history when the team took the court on President’s Day to open the 1A West Central District tournament.

Unfortunately, the bounces weren’t going their way early and a tough shooting night from the floor sunk the Eagles’ chances against Cascade Christian in a 44-18 loss.

“The bright lights, I think it got to us tonight,” said head coach Chris Koebelin.

Neither team started the game particularly well, and for a while there was hope that one basket or one friendly bounce on the rim could turn around Klahowya’s fortunes.

Katie Cooper hit a jumper from the post early that tied the game at four and Kyla Radford hit a big 3-pointer from the wing toward the end of the first quarter that pulled the Eagles within one.

But the same shooting woes persisted and Klahowya managed just one point in the second quarter.

“I think we were thrown off by them staying in zone the whole game, which they haven’t typically been doing,” Koebelin said. “They’ve been going half-and-half.”

They were only down 17-8 at halftime as Cascade Christian also struggled mightily from the floor, but the Cougars were able to get their inside game going in the second half while Klahowya’s struggles continued.

The Eagles return to the court Wednesday to try to rebound against Seattle Christian. If they do, they will likely get a rematch against Cascade Christian on Saturday in a winner-to-state, loser-out game.

”That’s our challenge, it’s to say ‘no, we belong here,’” Koebelin said. “We played a bad game, it happens to the best of us.”

Cascade Christian 44, Klahowya 18

CC 8 9 14 13 — 44

KL 7 1 4 6 — 18

Cascade Christian (44) — Teifke 13, Bartlett 10, Pearson 10, Midimo 8 Johnson 2, Patrick 2.

Klahowya (18) — Cooper 4, Koebelin 4, Lueck 4, Radford 4, Phillips 2.