The Seattle Storm is on a roll. Last night, the team maintained the lead throughout the game and limited Dallas to just 76 points in a blowout. It turned out to be an exhaustive game for Dallas as the energy brought by Jordan Horston, Jewell Loyd, and Ezi Magbegor lit the floor on fire. While all five starters scored in double figures, Horston powered through in the game’s last minutes and registered her first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds, leading Seattle to a 97-76 win.

Let’s find out how this trailblazing guard emerged on Storm’s roster.

Jordan Horston, the savvy guard bringing the athletic genes to work

Like many in her field, Jordan Horston too is a child of a former athlete. Her father, Leigh, played basketball at Capital University. Moreover, her late uncle, Joe Gilliam, was a quarterback at Tennessee State University. Born in May 2001, the Dallas, Texas native attended Columbus Africentric High School in Ohio and played through all four varsity seasons. However, she was not always a basketball-centric athlete. Besides varsity basketball, she also participated in cross-country, softball, and tennis.

Her senior season in high school saw most of the highlights as she earned several accolades, including the Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year, McDonald’s All-American Game MVP, WBCA All-American, etc. She also participated in the Jordan Brand Classic and Jump 25 Ohio All-Star Classic, among others. That was also the time when she pursued things outside basketball, winning gold twice at the 2017 FIBA U16 Women’s Championship and the 2018 IBA U17 Women’s World Cup.

But when the time came for her to go to college, Horston already had her heart set on one place. It was her junior season in high school when she made her commitment to play for the Tennessee Lady Vols after high school. However, her road to Tennessee saw a few bumps.

Horston’s start to life in Tennessee wasn’t the best

As it turned out, Tennessee’s head coach, Holly Warlick, to whom Horston committed to, was fired after the Lady Vols’ wobbly 19-13 record and a first-round exit in the NCAA Tournament.

But this event didn’t affect Horston’s decision. “I never really wanted to leave Tennessee. That’s where I said I was going to go. I like to stick to my word,” she said. And she was right as when she met the new head coach, Kellie Harper, Horston was in complete awe. “I was excited. From hearing her talk and stuff, I was excited. I saw that she was passionate and she was excited about the season. It just fired me up and made me ready to go,” said Horston at the time. Harper was a former point guard for the Lady Vols under the legendary coach Pat Summitt.

As for Horston, her new head coach was confident of her making an impact right at the start, and she did. As a freshman, she started 22 out of 31 games and averaged 10.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. Also, she ranked first on the team in assists and steals, second in blocks and three-pointers, and third in points and rebounds.

Everything was going well for Horston until she injured her left elbow at a game, which was later evaluated as a fractured dislocation. Before this injury, she started all 23 games, scoring in double digits in 19 games. Moreover, she held top ranks in the SEC for scoring, rebounding, and assists.

In her 4-year college basketball career at Tennessee, Jordan Horston garnered 1445 points, 731 rebounds, 455 assists, 163 steals, and 1089 blocks. She became one of the program’s only two players to record 1000 points, 700 rebounds, and 400 assists in her career. During her time, Tennessee made three appearances in the NCAA Tournament. After her impressive performances, she was drafted 9th overall in the 2023 WNBA Draft by Seattle.

In her rookie season, Horston averaged 6.9 points and 5.1 rebounds in 22.4 minutes per game. This year, the 23-year-old has averaged 7.1 points so far and will be looking forward to build on the team’s momentum going into the Olympics break.

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