Photo Illustration by Sam Thiel Minneota senior Lydia Sussner was named the 2019 Marshall Independent Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

MINNEOTA – With her team holding a decisive lead over Goodhue in the final seconds, Lydia Sussner was ready to add another win to their season. But this win wasn’t like any other Sussner or her team had experienced before.

When the final horn sounded, Sussner and her teammates began to celebrate with each other. For the first time since 2013, the Minneota girls basketball team would be crowned as Class A champions after earning a 40-31 victory over the Wildcats.

For Sussner, it was another perfect ending to a strong career that saw the senior post player help lead Minneota to its state championship. In the state tournament, Sussner averaged 12.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per game while also dishing out nine assists and recording seven blocks. Those contributions, along with her leadership, have earned Sussner the 2019 Marshall Independent Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

Sussner said she was surprised and honored when she heard the news.

“I’m pretty surprised,” Sussner said. “There’s a lot of good athletes in our area; I mean, just looking at my own team alone, everyone steps up when we need them to and we don’t really know who’s going to be the leading scorer night in and night out.”

Minneota coach Chad Johnston said the accolade is fitting to the work that Sussner has put in during her career for the Vikings.

“She’s obviously a phenomenal player on a team that’s had a lot of success the last few years and a lot of success this year for her as a senior. She’s provided a lot of senior leadership for us; her numbers maybe haven’t been like they’ve been in years past but she draws so much attention – she’s very worthy of that,” Johnston said. “It’s just everything that she’s provided for this team this year on a state championship team that’s had a lot of balance and she’s still our leading scorer, rebounder, top of our assists, steals. If you look at our statistics, she’s probably in the top one or two in a lot of those. She’s had a phenomenal career; 2,000-point scorer, 1,000 rebounds and has been just a wonderful person to work with over the years.”

Sussner has been a vital factor in guiding the Vikings throughout her career, leading the team in nearly every category. This season, Sussner was fourth in the area in scoring at 16.8 points per game while also leading the team in rebounding (9.4 per game), steals (100) and blocks (31) and was third on the team in assists at 78.

Those numbers paid off, as Sussner was named to the Class A All-Tournament team as well as a finalist for the Ms. Basketball Award.

Sussner said in what this season so special was being able share the championship experience with her teammates once more after many of the players on the roster were on the volleyball team that took home a title in November.

“I think the girls made it so special because we came from volleyball together and we knew that we had the chance to do something really special but it wasn’t going to be given,” Sussner said. “We all showed up and worked hard at practice and the stuff we did over the summer carried over and it was just really cool to see it all pay off.”

Johnston said Sussner has grown a lot throughout her career, especially with transitioning from solely called upon to score to being able to create more balance on the floor.

“From the outside looking in, it’s been learning how to disperse the wealth. Her first couple of years, a lot of the scoring fell upon her and we looked at her a lot more. I think this year one of things that we talked about and I had to talk about with her is just ‘You’re going to have more people that can do things this year’ and so, it’s not always going to be ‘We’ve got to get the ball to Lydia’ or ‘Hey, we’ve got to make sure she gets so many touches per game,'” Johnston said. “And she was great about it, and as a matter of fact, there were times in games where she would be looking for the assist and we would be saying ‘Shoot the ball. You need to take this.’ I think she really matured and was really accepting of how this is a team game; the individual accolades are great, but we’re in this together and we’re trying to become a state championship team and I think she did what she needed to do to help the team out.”

Johnston added what makes Sussner’s play on the court so special was her dedication to the game and her desire to improve on her skills.

“A lot of it is just athleticism; she worked hard when she was young and although she gives up height compared to a lot of post players, but she’s very quick, she’s athletic, she jumps well. For a post player for us, she handles the ball extremely well, she’s just kind of universal,” Johnston said. “You never got to see her outside game, but she worked on it all the time, she worked on her ballhandling and her 3-point shooting. She was able to do a lot of good things but overall just athleticism makes a big difference.”

Sussner said both Johnston and her teammates have made a big impact on her both on and off the court.

“They’ve taught me a lot about not only basketball, but about life in general and working with each other,” Sussner said. “I’m definitely going to miss that part of the sport the most part.”

In turn, Johnston said Sussner has had an impact on him and he’s been fortunate to have successful players, especially at the post position.

“I’ve been pretty fortunate for the last few years, we’ve had this type of a post player. We had Ashlynn Muhl who was kind of the same height and athletic, we had Taylor Reiss who was a phenomenal player for us and then Lydia filled right in there. Each of them have done it differently, but I think Lydia’s thing for me is her desire to be an all-around good player and just not focusing on one or two things. She was more well-rounded in her work ethic; all the time it was there, and you really never had to get after her to make sure she was working hard.”

While Sussner is finished playing basketball, her athletic career isn’t quite over yet. Next fall, Sussner will hit the floor as a new member of the Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball program.

Sussner said she’s just looking forward to having the opportunity to continue her career on the volleyball court and getting to know her new teammates.

“I’m definitely looking forward to the girls and just getting to continue to play volleyball and grow as an athlete and as a person,” Sussner said.