Joie Spier is Register Player of the Year

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Joie Spier did everything for Oldham-Ramona/Rutland, breaking numerous records during her exceptional career and putting the cherry on top by helping the Raiders win the District 7B championship in her senior season.

She is the Register Player of the Year.

“I thought we did way better than everyone thought we would,” the 5-foot-11, Northern State-bound Spier said. “Last year, it was just kind of rough and we all – the seniors and the juniors – just set our minds to it. We knew that we needed to do better this year, and we made that happen.”

ORR (13-10) won five of its final six regular-season games and then picked up a pair of postseason victories, including a 73-66 double-overtime defeat of Chester Area in the district final.

“It meant so much, especially to us seniors,” Spier said of the district title. “None of them had really been a part of a district championship game; but my seventh- and eighth-grade years we won it both times, so we hadn’t made it to a championship game since then.

“That really just meant a lot to us and we had lots of fun doing it.”

Spier dropped in a Raider-record 38 points (fellow-senior Abby Stratton added 26) in the big victory. The night before, in a 46-37 semifinal triumph at Colman-Egan, she posted a noteworthy double-double of 27 points and 20 rebounds.

Spier averaged 22 points and 14 rebounds per game for the year, adding four assists, four steals and four blocks per game.

“Joie has been an instrumental part of ORR girls’ basketball success over the past five years,” said Raider coach Sara Holmberg. “She started as an eighth-grader and has continued to improve her game every year.

“She holds every scoring and rebounding record (game, season and career) in school history, along with most assists in a season and career.”

Spier’s career marks are quite impressive:

1,627 points

1,259 rebounds

287 assists

279 rebounds

Asked to sum up her final season from an individual standpoint, Spier responded: “I kind of stepped up my game a little bit. I knew I had to a lot if I wanted to be able to play college ball. Since I committed (last) summer, I really wanted to step up my game and show them that I was good to go when I was graduating to go up to Northern.”

She certainly accomplished that.

“Her dedication to the sport and her teammates is unlike most girls her age,” added Holmberg. “She is one of the hardest working athletes I have had the pleasure to coach.

“Despite her many accolades, she remains humble and a great role model for all the young athletes at ORR.”

Spier also enjoyed her time as a Raider.

“It was probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” she said. “I’ve been so close to all my teammates and it’s just been really fun to play with them so many years. We’re such a small school, we’re all super close and it was just so much fun to play with them.”

Spier began playing basketball when she was 4 or 5 years old.

“My dad started taking me up to the gym and we’d go lower the hoops and shoot around like every day,” she noted.

It has worked out well.

She is heading north to Aberdeen to play hoops at Northern State in the fall.

“They contacted me the most and they were super interested in my life – not only just my basketball but they’d constantly be talking to me about my extra curricular activities, like my plays and school,” Spier said when asked about her college choice. “And when I went up there, it just felt like home.”

Spier swept the Dakota Valley Conference MVP awards in basketball and volleyball this season. She finished her volleyball career with 1,187 kills, 496 blocks, 239 aces, 768 digs and 22 set assists.