Local teams aim higher

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Followers of Zillah and Granger girls basketball know all about tough state-tournament draws. They need look back no further than 2008, when Granger drew No. 3 Freeman and Zillah had to open against four-time defending champion Colfax.

It's not quite that way for either the Leopards or the Spartans in this year's tournament, though their coaches know it doesn't make any difference.

"If you're in the draw, there's no such thing as a bad draw," says Andy Affholter, whose Granger team (19-4) opens at 2 p.m. against Cascade (18-8).

"Any team at this point is not going to be easy," adds Leopards coach Mindi Winters, whose team, also 19-4, plays its first-round game Wednesday at 7:30 against King's, a perennial 1A power whose 11-14 record is misleading because of the quality of competition the Knights routinely play.

The two SCAC West teams are ranked -- Granger, ranked fifth to Zillah's No. 8, the final poll having come out before the Leopards edged Granger in the SCAC district semifinals -- while their opponents are not. But that doesn't mean they're favorites.

"King's has been extremely tough in the past," Winters says. "So I'm sure it will be a tough game. The important thing for me is just to focus on that first one and do the best we can that first day."

That's what Granger did so well last year, upsetting Freeman on the way to placing third, the highest finish in the Spartans' program history. At the time, nobody knew anything about the Spartans. Affholter knows that's not the case now.

"People kind of now who we are now," he says. "There's a flip side to that -- you can't really surprise anybody. But hopefully we've gotten some respect around the state a little bit, that maybe (people know) kids in Granger can play a little bit."

Should both local teams advance to the quarterfinals, that's where things would figure to get very difficult. Zillah would likely face No. 1-ranked Seattle Christian (22-1), while Granger could expect a showdown with No. 3 Lynden Christian (22-3), which nipped Seattle Christian by a point in district play.

That kind of matchup was bound to happen sooner, not later, Affholter says.

"The way the draw is set up, you're going to hit one of those clubs either the first day or the second day," he says. "We all knew there were three true No. 1's in the state -- Freeman, Seattle Christian and Lynden Christian. And there's only four quarter-brackets you can put them in."

Granger may still be a year off from being a championship-type team; the Spartans usually start five underclassmen. Zillah's two leaders are seniors -- 5-7 guard Bayli Ziegler (10.8 points per game) and 6-foot post Rosebud Guthrie (14.5), who has scored more 1,000 career points. And they're surrounded by role players who, Winters says, are a joy to coach.

"We've got such great worker bees; they'll do anything we ask as coaches," Winters says. "I told Rosebud, 'This is such a great team for you to play with for your senior year.'"