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Eastern Washington University Basketball

‘Thrown to the sharks’ as a freshman, Kourtney Grossman has blossomed in first year with Eastern Washington

Eastern Washington forward Kourtney Grossman shoots during a Big Sky Conference game against Idaho on Jan. 18 in Moscow, Idaho.  (Courtesy of EWU Athletics)
By Dan Thompson The Spokesman-Review

Aware of her status as a true freshman on a team looking to defend its Big Sky championship, Kourtney Grossman entered this Eastern Washington women’s basketball season with the attitude that she would be happy for any playing time she could get.

“I didn’t expect many minutes, so I was going to be happy with any I did get,” Grossman said Tuesday. “I just wanted to come in and improve and get better each day.”

As it has turned out, Grossman is getting lots of minutes – and the numbers suggest she’s only getting better as she does.

“Our freshmen have been thrown to the sharks this year,” EWU head coach Joddie Gleason said. “They’ve been asked to produce and to play more than you really should ask of them and they’re handling it really well. They’re producing and learning.”

Grossman is part of three EWU freshmen who are playing key roles for the Eagles, who are at home this week to play Idaho State at 11 a.m. Thursday – the team’s annual Kids Day contest at Reese Court – and Weber State at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Jaecy Eggers, who led Woodinville to fourth place at the State 4A tournament last year, has started all eight Big Sky games and 15 games overall. She’s averaging 8.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.

Emily McElmurry, from Sentinel High School in Missoula, has played 18 games off the bench, rotating in at guard.

And then there’s Grossman, the forward from Billings, who has started 12 straight games and is averaging the third-most minutes on the team (26.1 per game). She has also become a double-double machine, recording at least 10 points and 10 rebounds in each of the past five games and seven of the past nine .

No one in the Big Sky is averaging more than Grossman’s 10 rebounds per game; no one else in the conference has grabbed more in any game than the 19 she did on Jan. 20 against Montana State. The last time an EWU player amassed that many rebounds was in 1992, when Missy Chubb had 19, eight shy of the program’s all-time single-game record of 27 held by Neil Ann Massie.

At least to Gleason, it’s pretty clear that Grossman’s rebounding stats aren’t a mirage.

“I don’t think it’s misleading,” Gleason said. “I think it’s a combination of her relentless pursuit of the ball, her competitiveness and her athleticism. (Those three traits) come together into this person who goes out and rebounds absolutely every possession.

“People can rebound in their area, and everyone should be able to do that. But only a special few can rebound out of their area, and she can do that – see where the basketball is going and track it down before others can.”

All those rebounds lead to extra possessions, Gleason said. It’s one factor that has led the Eagles to attempt the second-most field goals in the conference behind Northern Arizona, which beat Eastern in Flagstaff last week and sits at 7-1 in Big Sky play.

The Eagles aren’t winning like they did last season: They are 2-6 in the Big Sky and 6-14 overall with a roster that isn’t nearly as experienced as last year’s 29-6 squad that played in the NCAA Tournament.

But four of the Eagles’ losses have come to the top three teams in the Big Sky standings – Montana State, NAU and Idaho – and none of the six defeats has been by more than 12 points. They are coming off a stretch of four games in eight days (all losses), three of them on the road.

They have also dealt with injuries to junior guard Breeje Schuler and senior Ellie Boni, both of whom were starting and averaging a combined 43 minutes per game.

It’s been a lot to weather, but Grossman said everyone’s team-first attitude has helped them do so.

“I think a really big part of the team culture here at Eastern is knowing what you can do specifically to make the team better,” she said, “setting your team up for success and being happy for those successes.”

It’s why Grossman said she isn’t thinking about her rebounding totals – she’s on pace to be the first EWU player to average 10 a game since 1987 – nor is she looking to stack points on her average of 9.9 per game, second most on the team behind senior Peyton Howard (13.6).

“They push themselves,” Gleason said of freshmen Grossman, Eggers and McElmurry.

“They are continuously trying to improve, and the only way to get that is through experience. Every single day they learn something new and get better.”