First, let’s address the elephant in the room. You can’t be from Northwest Indiana, named Jordan, and named Steele and NOT be at least somewhat good defensively. That would just be tragic. All kidding aside, Jordan is a long and fast athlete who has always done a nice job of utilizing her physical tools to turn opponents over. She always sits in a stance one pass away from the ball and explodes into the passing lanes to take off with it the other direction. While she has made a name for her high scoring outputs (26.4 ppg last year; 24.8 ppg this year), she is as good of a defender as a shooter/scorer.

Jordan Steele Jordan Steele 5'8" | SG Highland | 2026 State IN made a strong case last season as one of the top players in Northwest Indiana—and arguably a serious candidate for NWI Player of the Year. She is a complete offensive threat, excelling at scoring both off the dribble and at the rim, where she consistently draws contact and converts at a 76% clip from the free-throw line. Her ability to create her own shot and score efficiently makes her one of the toughest guards to defend in the region. Steele’s impact went far beyond just scoring. She led Highland in points (26.4 PPG), rebounds, assists, and steals, showing her all-around value and ability to shoulder a heavy workload. Her leadership proved critical as she guided Highland to its second sectional championship in three years and the program’s first regional title since 2003. With Steele returning this season, Highland has the talent and experience to make another deep state tournament run. Her combination of skill, production, and leadership firmly establishes her as one of the premier players in the area.

Another lefty on this list, Jordan really stood out in Louisville during the first half of July. She is long and wiry, very fast North/South, and she is another high-level scorer. She is a pure shooter who loves the deep corners. She has also tremendously improved her finishing. She is one of the better players in this class I have seen at the 10 to 12-foot runner/floater. She elevates well, keeps the ball high, and finishes high over taller front-liners. I’ve also seen her become a much feistier defender who gets a lot of deflections/steals.

Jordan had an outstanding day on Thursday. In the parts of her two games I was able to see, she showed off her speed, her lefty perimeter stroke, plus she was great knocking down floaters and runners off the bounce. She had a fantastic Winter in 2024-2025 for the Lady Trojans, and I would expect a repeat performance this coming year. But what impressed me most is that she was doing it against a couple of tough grassroots opponents earlier today.

Jordan had a solid Spring, but she was even better throughout the July grassroots season. She is a nice, athletic lefty with great North/South speed and a little bounce to her. She’s long, she has a toughness to her, and she plays extremely hard. She has been primarily known as a perimeter shooter, and she loves the left wing/corner, but in July she showed much more assertiveness off the bounce, and she was consistently finishing at the basket. I also really like her improved focus and urgency at the defensive end of the floor.

Jordan is a really nice athlete, with length, wiry strength, and a real smoothness to her game. She has a nice lefty stroke from the perimeter, but in the last year she has used her athleticism a lot more in attacking the basket and drawing contact. I think another year of strength and experience will make her an even tougher assignment for most defenders. I look for her to potentially increase her 18.0 points per game from a year ago and make a run at 1000 career point sometime in early January.