To say that the Orono girls' basketball team wants to win a state championship this season would be a vast understatement.

Falling to Marshall 55-48 in the Class 3A state semifinals at Williams Arena last year cut the Spartans deep, especially after finishing the with just one regular-season loss, and now the core talent on the team is a year wiser.

"Last year going into the state tournament, it was the first time anybody on that team had been there, and we had a tough loss to Marshall that we probably shouldn't have lost," junior Tori Andrew said. "So we have a fire this year. We're expected to win state, and we hold ourselves to a higher standard."

Orono is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A by Minnesota Basketball News, and with six seniors on the roster, along with Andrew, who's been playing varsity since she moved to Minnesota before her freshman year, the Spartans look primed for a title run despite two losses on the schedule so far this season.

Those defeats came at the hands of No. 1-4A Hopkins and No. 4-4A Eastview at the St. Olaf Holiday Hoops Classic. Orono also recorded a 55-53 victory over Wayzata in the season opener and has a date with No. 7-4A Minnetonka on Feb. 13.

Orono coach Ellen Wiese said all the Class 4A teams dotting the schedule is an effort to prepare her team for the big games come March.

"Every chance we had, besides conference games obviously, I said schedule a 4A school and not just any 4A school, but the best," Wiese said. "So we've played Eden Prairie, Hopkins, Eastview, and we're going to play Minnetonka. When we hang with those schools, we know we can beat anybody."

It also helps having a starting lineup as talented as the one the Spartans trot out on a nightly basis.

Leading the charge is Andrew, a 5-foot-10 guard who scored 27 points in Orono's 80-51 shelling of Wright County Conference foe Waconia on Tuesday night. She leads the team with 16.7 points per game but has plenty of Division I-bound help.

Listed at 6-foot-4, senior and Marquette commit Meghan Mandel averages 9.9 ppg, and fellow senior Danielle Jorgenson, a Cornell commit, posts 11.4 ppg.

The Spartans are a much more experienced team than they were a year ago, and Andrew said that'll be the biggest factor in improving upon last season's third-place finish at state.

"We just have all that experience now, with six seniors, myself and (junior guard) Natalie Smaron on the court," Andrew said. "It's just wanting to get back where we were and wanting to prove a point, and we just have the experience to do it this year."