Highland guard Jordan Steele had two ideas about what she wanted to accomplish as a freshman.
Score more points than her sister Taylor did in her debut season and help the Trojans win a sectional title.
She has checked both boxes.
Steele averaged 10.9 points during the regular season for the Trojans, who are sectional champions for the first time since 2007.
“Our first practice, we were focused on sectionals,” she said. “That was our main goal. It still doesn’t feel real that we won. But now that we’re going to regionals, we can win regionals too.”
Steele had 15 points, eight rebounds and two assists in Highland’s 43-34 win against Hanover Central in the Class 3A Griffith Sectional championship game on Feb. 4. The Trojans (17-6), who moved down from 4A this season, will play Fairfield (24-2) at the Jimtown Regional on Saturday afternoon. Under the revised postseason format, another victory would net the Trojans their first regional title since 2003.
“I like the bond that we all have,” Steele said. “We’re all really close. Even though I’m a freshman, I don’t feel like a freshman. Everyone’s always included me.
“If we play our game and play confident and play together as a team, we have a very good chance.”
Steele, who also averaged 3.8 rebounds and 1.7 steals this season, is the second-youngest of five children. She described eclipsing her sister Taylor, who graduated from Highland in 2017 as the program’s No. 2 career scorer and put together a strong career as a Division I player at Eastern Illinois, as a “very big confidence booster.” Her brother Nick was a three-sport standout for the Trojans and graduated last year.
“There’s definitely a lot of pressure on me,” Steele said. “I try not to get in my head about it, though. Just having my older siblings who know the experience of high school basketball helps me. Going to put up shots with me, doing drills with me, it helps a lot.”
Steele has impressed second-year Highland coach Darian Straughter, who also won sectional titles as a player at Merrillville and as an assistant. Straughter said she is “grateful” and “proud” of the efforts of every player and staff member in making history, including Steele.
“She’s great,” Straughter said. “She does everything that you could possibly think of, on offense and defense. She takes charges, she rebounds, she knocks down big shots, she attacks well. She does everything. Her attitude is great. She never complains. She’s just one of those players that you love to have on your roster, on your team.
“As a freshman, I can’t believe the things she’s done this year. She’s our X-factor. When she goes, it seems like the rest of the team goes. I’m definitely glad I’ll be able to coach her for the next three seasons. Toward the end of the year, you’d never think she was a freshman the way she’s playing. She’s playing like she’s been playing varsity forever. I definitely appreciate having her on our team.”
Indeed, Steele had hints of self-doubt early in the season. But she turned a corner.
“At the beginning of the season, I really was not that good,” she said. “I didn’t shoot that much. I wasn’t confident in my shot. But a little after Christmas break is when I started shooting and I started knocking down the shots. I got really confident.”
It was part of Steele’s maturation process. She also credited Straughter’s positive reinforcement and the support of teammates, such as senior guard Payton Reid.
“Me and Payton got really close,” Steele said. “She really pushes me during practice. I’m always her partner for drills, so she really pushes me to do my best. She made me a lot better than I was in the beginning of the season.”
Reid, who also earned a starting spot as a freshman, has marveled at how advanced Steele has been.
“I push her in the ways that I’ve been pushed since I’ve been here,” Reid said. “I try to encourage her to push beyond her limits because I know she’s going to go far. Even though she might not know it, she has so much potential. This is just the start of it.
“She’s really, really stepped it up for us. She’s our lockdown shooter. If I drive and kick out to her, I know she’s going to make it. I don’t have to doubt it. I have so much confidence in her as a player and as a shooter. She doesn’t play like a freshman. She’s really grown into her role. I’m just very proud of her, how much she’s grown throughout the season.”
Steele also was part of Highland’s Northwest Crossroads Conference championship team in cross country in the fall, and she hopes to make an impact as a center fielder in softball.
She has already made her mark in basketball.
“There was a little moment where she wasn’t confident in her ability,” Straughter said. “But I told her that she wouldn’t be on varsity if she didn’t deserve to be on varsity. She shows day in and day out why she deserves it. She works hard in practice. She’s one of our hardest workers.
“Toward the second half of the season, she really turned it up. I can only recall two games where she had freshman moments. Other than that, she doesn’t look like a freshman the way she’s playing.”
