Sun All-State Basketball: Orndorff shined in tiny Hawthorne

Spencer Patterson

Tuesday, March 7, 2000 | 10:33 a.m.

Ask most longtime Nevada residents what they know about the town of Hawthorne and you're likely to get a blank look.

Located 145 miles south of Reno and with only 3,000 residents, Hawthorne is best known for being home to the world's largest ammunition dump.

During the past decade, however, the small town has developed a reputation for something else: top-notch girls basketball. Hawthorne's Mineral County High School has become a power in the sport, capturing seven 1A, 2A and 3A state titles since 1989.

The 1999-2000 season saw the Serpents take their game to another level, capturing not only the 3A state championship but also staking a claim as Nevada's top overall girls basketball program.

Not surprisingly, the individual most associated with that ascension to greatness has also become Hawthorne's most prominent citizen: senior Ashlee Orndorff, the Sun's 2000 Girls Basketball State Player of the Year.

"It's a source of pride for the whole community, and she's the figurehead they all associated with it," Mineral County coach David Gelmstedt said. "She's a great role model for the kids here."

That's a lot of pressure for a 17-year-old. But as the versatile 6-2 athlete has proven throughout her stellar high school career, Orndorff doesn't worry much about pressure. If anything, she plays her best when the stakes are the highest.

"If we were in a tight ballgame, the kids knew where to get the ball," Gelmstedt said.

The daughter of a former Hawthorne star who went on to play Division I men's basketball at San Jose State, Orndorff spent her early years working with her father, Don, at his community recreation center.

"That's where I developed a lot of my skills," she said.

As opposing players throughout Nevada learned over the past four years, those skills include a crafty low-post game, deadly outside shooting that extends beyond the 3-point line, ball-handling skills more reminiscent of a point guard and defensive savvy that helped her break school records for career steals and blocks.

"For someone her size to do the things she does is amazing," Gelmstedt said.

During Orndorff's first two high school seasons, her team rolled to a pair of 3A state titles, running the Serpents' championship streak to five. But in 1999, Mineral County finally stumbled, falling to eventual 3A champion Moapa Valley in the state semifinals.

That gave Orndorff all the motivation she needed for her final prep season. Playing alongside freshman sister Sidney, the state's top player came into her senior year with an unbridled desire to recapture what she had lost.

Playing like a team on a mission, the Serpents cruised to a 31-1 record and another 3A state title, with their only loss coming to California powerhouse Amador Valley. Along the way, they beat state qualifiers Carson (twice) and Silverado, a school with an enrollment larger than the entire town of Hawthorne.

Orndorff finished with an impressive set of per-game averages: 20.6 points, 16.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 4.6 blocks and 3.6 steals.

Those types of numbers, along with her team's annual success, were enough to attract the attention of the nation's top college basketball programs, among them Stanford, North Carolina, Duke and Arizona.

But after weighing all her options, Orndorff settled on a college choice that made perfect sense to her, but made those around her scratch their head: Nevada-Reno.

In the end, the best female athlete ever to come out of Hawthorne decided she wanted to stay close to those who had helped her get so far.