By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
TRUSSVILLE — On the court, Jordan Hunter doesn’t waste a whole lot of time. The sophomore point guard for Hewitt-Trussville’s girls basketball team is used to making up her mind and following through, whether it’s a scoring drive on her own or distributing the rock to one of her talented teammates.
So when she made a decision about where to play college basketball, she didn’t wait. The 16-year-old, who helped the Huskies to the 7A finals in 2021 and an Elite 8 appearance in 2022, committed to Auburn University recently and announced her decision via Twitter.
“It was important to me to stay close to home,” Hunter said during a Monday telephone interview. “The coach there, Johnnie Harris, is perfect for me. I felt like there was no point in waiting (to announce) if I already knew what I wanted.”
Harris, who is in her first season at Auburn, is a coach with a high level of experience and success. She’s the 2018 WBCA National Assistant Coach of the Year, and she’s spent 16 years combined at Arkansas, Texas A&M and Mississippi State, prior to coming about at Auburn, she was associate head coach at the University of Texas.
“Auburn checked all my boxes,” Hunter said. “Of course I talked with my parents a lot … we looked at all aspects of the decision, because I wanted to go somewhere that I would make me a better player, but also that could make me a better person as I learn and grow.”
During the recruiting process, Hunter had considered Alabama, UAB and Mississippi State.
While the sophomore has two more seasons playing at Hewitt-Trussville, she knows things will change when she heads to the Plains. As a Husky, she’s the daughter of her head coach, Tonya Hunter, who coached Shades Valley to a 6A state championship in 2016.
“Right now it’s hard to imagine not playing for her,” Hunter said. “She’s wonderful, and she does a great job of keeping coaching separate from being a mom.”
Hunter wants to play ball as long as she can. She plans to major in psychology with an eye to eventually becoming a lawyer. But before that, she says she’ll stay on the court as long as she can.
“I feel like I want to let ball take me as far as it can,” Hunter said, mentioning the idea of playing overseas or even for the WNBA one day. “But the ball stops bouncing for everyone eventually.”
Eventually, but not anytime soon for Hunter.