Following family tradition
Amanda Grumbach’s debut at the State B girls basketball tournament wasn’t too shabby – but that should have been expected.
The Curlew sophomore showed as much poise as her famous cousins Zach and Derek Gianukakis did last year at the Arena in helping Republic win the boys title.
“It was nice watching them,” Grumbach said of last year’s tournament. “I was just wishing it would be me.”
Now it is with the Curlew girls at state for the first time since 1985.
Grumbach and her Cougar teammates didn’t show many nerves in a 64-43 win over Evergreen Lutheran Christian on Wednesday. Grumbach, a 5-foot-8 guard, played all 32 minutes, scoring 13 points, grabbing six rebounds and making five steals.
She grew up playing basketball with her talented cousins, often together at co-ed tournaments, but there’s more to it than that.
Grumbach’s mom was a standout for Republic, scoring 1,800 points in her career, the last 35 when the Tigers won the 1981 state championship. Then Bonnie Metler went on to Whitworth where she earned All-Conference honors a couple of times and scored more than 1,000 points before she married Doug Grumbach, who is now the boys basketball coach.
Metler’s sister Penny married John Gianukakis, the Republic coach and father of Zach, a junior, and Derek, a sophomore.
“We’re very close,” Amanda said. “When we get together, that’s all we talk about. It’s nice to have somebody you can look up to. Especially Zach (also a guard), I really look up to him.”
Still, her mom is her biggest influence.
“I’ve been told I play so much like her,” she said. “People tell me it’s a true reflection.”
Except for one thing, mom was a shooter in the days before the 3-point line.
“It’s how she carries herself, how she moves, how she runs, that kind of stuff,” Bonnie Grumbach said. “I think I was more of a shooter, but we’re going to take care of that.”
There is another difference.
“I was not good like her when I was a sophomore in high school,” Bonnie said. “I was clumsy.”
Mom coached basketball in junior high and a few years in high school so she finds it difficult to hold her tongue now. Though she offers her daughter advice, Bonnie does her coaching with the state-qualifying Cougars volleyball team, which included her daughter. Amanda has already been selected to the Panorama all-league team three times. Yes, she made it as an eighth grader.
In basketball, Bonnie has set some high standards.
“Thirty five points is an inner goal,” Amanda said. “But she did it in a state championship game. I would rather have a state championship than 35 points.”
Back on the bench
Ray Zeutenhorst is back where he belongs, sitting alongside a basketball coach in a familiar position – watching the state tournament.
Zeutenhorst was a long-time scout and then an assistant coach for defense for Jack Cleveland’s girls dynasty at East Valley-Yakima. But after the Hall of Fame coach died suddenly in the summer of 2003 at the age of 56, Zeutenhorst quit coaching.
“I couldn’t go back,” he said, obviously haunted by the loss, “but I missed it.”
With a son at La Salle and at the urging of Lightning coach Todd Kent, he returned. Zeutenhorst has helped turn La Salle into a dominant defensive squad that gave up 50 points just once this season. After beating DeSales 54-38, the Lightning are 21-2.
After years of scouting for Cleveland, Zeutenhorst was on the bench for 11 straight wins at the State 2A tournament when the Red Devils finished fourth, first and first. Moving to the B level has been no adjustment.
“These girls are as athletic as most of the girls we had at East Valley,” he said. “They work real hard and do anything you ask.”
Intimidation
The game started off well for 6-5 LaCrosse- Washtucna post Kyle Lepper. He blocked a layup attempt by Willapa Valley’s 6-11 Zach Baugher.
It went downhill after that.
Lepper, who is used to turning and shooting after a catch, was 1 of 7 as Baugher obviously bothered all of the Tigercats though he was not credited with a blocked shot.
Things didn’t go much better on the other end as Baugher dunked three times and scored 15 points and Lepper fouled out.
With Baugher contesting shots his teammates cleaned up on the boards with a 48-39 rebounding advantage and L-W shot just 29 percent. The Vikings won 62-57.
“We haven’t played anyone that big, not even close,” L-W coach Brian Koller said referring to the Vikings’ front line. “Most of the teams we play are smaller than us. … Their size definitely affected Lepper. But we got a lot of open shots. … The thing WV did best was rebound. They didn’t give you any second chances.”