(Elk Horn) All-Stater Quinn Grubbs returns to lead the Exira-EHK basketball team this winter. The Spartans have been to the state tournament in each of the past two years.
Grubbs brings back averages of 15.8 points, 3.2 assists, and 3.8 steals per game form last season and she’s not the only key returner. Coach Tom Petersen says, “We have Quinn Grubbs and Shay Burmeister coming back. Both of them have been starting guards for the last couple of years. Their roles are going to change quite a bit going into this year. We are going to try and build off of them as much as we can.”
Hannah Nelson also saw some playing time a year ago, but the rest of the group will be fairly new to the varsity level. “Hannah Nelson played quite a bit a year ago and is still around. We have some young girls with Mayne Jorgensen, Brylie Andersen, Harlee Fahn, Jaelynn Petersen and then Makenzie Riley is a senior that came out. A lot of teaching going on right now.”
Petersen admits it will take time to get everyone up to speed. They’ll lean heavily on their two returning starters, especially early in the season. “They have to provide that leadership to the younger kids and they both do a great job. They teach them and help out in practice. It’s nice to have that. Both of them know and understand what my expectations are out there on the floor. They are going to be my coaches out there on the floor. I’m really excited to see what both of them can do. It’s a fresh team, it’s a little bit different. We’ll have to make some adjustments as we go along, but pretty excited with this group.”
The current senior class has a career record of 68-5.
Exira-EHK coach Tom Petersen:
