Orono junior guards Kiera Nelson and Sydney Reiners are fast. Really fast.

But they need to be. Both are listed at 5-foot-6, and their coach, Ellen Wiese, said that listed height may even be a stretch. The impact of their small stature is minimal, due to that speed.

"They're faster than hell, so that helps," Wiese said. "Size has never, ever been a limiting factor for them and it won't be because they're fast, they're smart, they can shoot and they just have great basketball IQs."

Nelson and Reiners each posted 10 points in the seventh-ranked Spartans' (16-6) 76-70 victory at Holy Family Catholic on Monday night, clinching the Wright County Conference crown in the process.

With 6-3 center Megan Mandel not feeling the best and getting into early foul trouble, Wiese turned to her lightning-quick guards. That meant lots of drives to the basket, which exposed the Fire's (14-10) interior defense.

Both Nelson and Reiners looked fearless taking the ball to the rim, darting among the trees with ease.

"In practice we always work on driving it in (the paint)," Reiners said. "Going up strong is one of the biggest things we do, with being a smaller team we have to go up strong and make sure to get the head-fake and get them off their feet."

The speed has been working well of late for the Spartans, winners of 13 straight games. It's a vast improvement from where the Spartans were just two seasons ago.

"My kids have learned to win," Wiese said. "Two years ago we only won three games, last year we won 13 and now we're on a huge roll. They just find a way to win."

It's been a huge turnaround for Orono and this season has no doubt been sparked by all the speed in the guard-heavy Spartans' lineup, a group that tries to limit the turnovers to 13 per game, Nelson said.

And once again, it's the speed that allows them to acheive those kind of goals, night-in and night-out.

"A lot of girls can't keep up in a foot race with us," Nelson said. "That also makes it harder for them to keep up with the passing … being guard-strong, we have to see the whole court and find our open teammates."

Orono hasn't lost in 2014, and if things keep going the Spartans' way, their coach knows they have the chance to do something special.

"If we can make it through this week healthy and go into sections healthy then we'll be fine," Wiese said. "I feel like we're peaking at the right time, and if we can keep everybody healthy, I see us down at Williams Arena. That's where we want to be."