Orono coach Ellen Wiese found a more appropriate way to honor the Spartans’ five seniors prior to tipoff of their regular-season finale. 

Wiese decided the typically presentations of flowers to the seniors as symbol of gratitude for their contributions would not be suitable, and instead gave Kiera Nelson, Sydney Reiners, Caitlyn Boyle, Rachel Heussner and Lydia Farmer something much larger and more meaningful: a full court of fans waiting to high five the girls.

“Announcing them and giving them a rose wasn’t enough,” Wiese said. “They needed to feel the love of the community because they’ve done so much to this program.”

The pentad were responsible for building Orono into a powerhouse. The Spartans won just three games in 2011-12 as injuries to other players forced the girls into starting roles as freshman. This season, Orono is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A by Minnesota Basketball News and improved to 25-1 overall and 10-0 in the Wright County Conference East Division after defeating New Prague 58-39 on Friday night at Orono High School.

The victory secured the division title for the Spartans, and their success was surprising to many. 

“I knew we were going to be good, but I didn’t know we’d be this good,” said Heussner, who scored five points in the victory.

Playing the regular-season finale in front of the home crowd created an odd feeling for Heussner, who is averaging 5.0 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

“It’s weird to think it’s my last senior game,” she said.

Heussner won’t be playing basketball after high school, opting to follow her passion for volleyball and will be a setter for the team at Harding University in Arkansas. Heussner, who moved to Minnesota from Mississippi when she was eight years old, also prefers warmer winter weather.

“I’m not into snow and cold,” she said. 

Wrapping up the regular season at home also proved to be emotional for Nelson, who is planning to play for Minnesota-Duluth next year.

“It was hard to imagine believe that I’ve played since I was a freshman,” she said. “I got choked up.”

Nelson’s performance against the No. 3-3A Trojans may have caused New Prague fans to do the same as she had 13 points in the victory. Nelson finished the regular season with 381 total points and is Orono's leading scoring at 14.7 points per game. She also surpassed 1,000 points for her career with a 29-point performance in a 69-64 victory at New Prague on Feb. 6.   

Heussner said the bonds she formed with Nelson and the other seniors will be difficult to break.

“I can’t imagine not playing with (Nelson) and all the other girls,” Heussner said. “We’re a family on this team.”

The Orono basketball family has extended into the community, where both Heussner and Nelson have participated in a mentoring program started by Wiese that requires each varsity player to help coach a youth basketball team with girls in grades from kindergarten through eighth.

“It’s amazing to see the girls grow up and develop,” Nelson said. 

Weise said the mentoring has strengthened the connection between the varsity team and Orono youth basketball associations and is successful in producing results. The five current Spartans seniors all started in the program as eighth graders.

“They are everything that is good about Orono girls’ basketball,” Wiese said.

Sophomore Tori Andrew and senior Kiera Nelson each finished with 13 points, helping Orono clinch the Wright County Conference East Division title with a 58-39 victory over New Prague in the regular-season finale at Orono high school on Friday night.

The Spartans (25-1, 10-0), ranked No. 1 in Class 3A by Minnesota Basketball News, trailed the Trojans by eight points late in the first half, but Andrew’s back-to-back three-pointers closed the gap to 26-24 and sent Orono into halftime with momentum. 

Nelson punctuated the victory with a two-point field goal and two three-pointers at the end of the game.

Junior Danielle Jorgenson made her presence known with a solid defensive performance in the second half of the game, helping hold New Prague to just 13 total points.

Junior Meghan Mandel, who was scoreless in the first half, scored nine points early in the second before getting into foul trouble and senior Rachel Heussner added eight points for the Spartans in the victory.

Sophomore Taylor Hustad led the No. 3-3A Trojans with 12 points.

Seniors Jenna Cox and Jess Allar added nine points apiece for New Prague (21-4, 8-2).

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