The Lady Husker basketball team walked away from their 2011-2012 season as the Big 10 Runner Up with a 24-9 record. Many Husker fans, especially those from Alliance, do not believe the team could have been so successful without the spark of their forward player, Jordan Hooper.
Hooper is a 2010 Alliance High School graduate and something of a hometown hero. During her four years playing for the Bulldogs Hooper was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year, in 2008 and 2010, and as a freshman in high school she was on her way to landing second-team All-Nebraska and Super-State recognition, by averaging 16.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. In her sophomore year Hooper improved in all aspects of her game and helped lead the Bulldog team to becoming the State Runner-Up; Hooper averaged 13.2 rebounds and 17.5 points per game. During her junior year Jordan was named Captain of the Lincoln Journal Star’s Class B All-State Team by dominating a win over Holdrege, scoring 34 points, gathering 18 rebounds, and blocking 13 shots. Hooper’s final year at Alliance High School she was ranked second in the history of rebounds, with 1,337, and was the fifth all-time scorer in Nebraska history with 2.078 points.
Not only was Jordan a success on the court, but in the Fall of 2010 she was placed on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, and in the Spring of 2012 she earned a spot on the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll.
Today Hooper, as her basketball fans affectionately call her, is a junior at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and a starting forward on the basketball team. Jordan says playing Husker college ball is much different than playing for the Dogs in high school. “These are such different experiences. The Bulldogs were a ton of fun and I would go back to high school in a heart- beat. I loved that experience and I loved playing in front of all the people who came out every Friday night or Saturday [at home] or whenever the heck we played, there were always people. That was the coolest thing in high school to me, the amount of support we got.”
Jordan said she still has lots of fans in the stands, but the difference is that she doesn’t know all them like she did back home. “Despite this,” Jordan says, “I enjoy playing in college. It’s just a whole different atmosphere.”
As a college freshman Hooper made a huge impact on her team by leading in scoring with 14.6 points per game and ranking second on the team with rebounding with 6.6 boards per game. She finished her freshman year as the number one rebounder among all Big 12 freshmen and ranked second among the Big 12 freshmen in three-pointers made. As a sophomore Husker player Jordan was a First-Team All-Big Ten pick and found herself as Naismith National Player-of-the-Year and on the Wade Trophy Watch List. She also earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Tournament team with 9.0 rebounds and 19.8 points per game.
This year Jordan is a junior at The University of Nebraska at Lincoln, majoring in psychology and looking forward to another fantastic season as number thirty-five on the Husker basketball team. Coincidently, Amy Stephens, who was also an Alliance native turned Husker, wore the same number during her years in Lincoln. Good luck this year Jordan, Alliance wishes you well.
