In a tight-knit family with five children, Highland’s Jordan and Avery Steele share an especially strong bond.
Jordan Steele, a record-setting 5-foot-9 senior guard/forward, and Avery Steele, an up-and-coming 5-9 sophomore guard/forward, are the two youngest siblings in the family and have played alongside each other for two seasons.
“Every day in practice, we do this drill at the beginning, and Avery’s always my partner,” Jordan Steele said. “I feel like she’s grown just from doing that. I always try to challenge her.”
Avery Steele has been trying to meet that challenge all season.
“Me and Jordan’s last year together, I feel like I’ve had to step up a lot,” she said. “I’m going to have to step up a lot next year, so I might as well step up now. She gives me a lot of pointers.”
Jordan Steele knows what she’s talking about. She has led the Trojans to three sectional championships and recently became their all-time leading scorer.
Highland’s Jordan Steele (11) looks to make a play during a Class 3A Calumet Sectional semifinal against East Chicago Central in Gary on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (Mandy Coppinger / Post-Tribune)
Jordan and Avery Steele have won the past two sectional titles together and will try to win their second straight Class 3A regional title on Saturday, when Highland (18-6) will play Culver Academies (21-5) at Winamac.
“Being able to do it senior year is definitely a big one,” Jordan Steele said. “Especially not being able to do it my sophomore year and not getting the fourpeat, that’s what motivates me. I hated that feeling my sophomore year. It just felt like we should’ve won, and we didn’t. So it’s a big motivator for me.
“Playing with these girls is something I don’t take for granted.”
Jordan Steele, who has led the Trojans in scoring in each of her four seasons, is averaging 23.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 5.9 steals. She scored her 1,833rd career point on Jan. 20 to break the record set by 2001 graduate Jenny DeMuth, who was the Indiana Miss Basketball runner-up as a senior and then starred for the Hoosiers.
“There was a lot of face-guarding last year, but there’s a whole lot more double-teaming and triple-teaming this year,” Highland coach Eric Kundich said. “So she’s had to find other ways to score, whether it’s rebounding and finding putbacks or getting to the basket more often and drawing fouls. She’s a great free-throw shooter. She’s just become a better all-around player.”
Jordan Steele had moved past her sister Taylor, who was No. 2 on the all-time list with 1,569 points, on Dec. 16. Taylor Steele, a 2017 Highland graduate, played at Eastern Illinois and will soon be a dentist in the Region.
Jordan Steele wasn’t sure she would eclipse that total, let alone DeMuth’s. She will go into the regional with 1,906 points.
“It means a lot to me,” Jordan Steele said. “I remember my junior year when coach came in, we were talking about breaking my sister’s record. He was like, ‘What do you think about that record?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know.’
“I really didn’t want to talk about it because I was nervous I wasn’t going to break it. Just him pushing me to do something I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to.”
Highland’s Avery Steele dribbles the ball during a Class 3A Calumet Sectional semifinal against East Chicago Central in Gary on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (Mandy Coppinger / Post-Tribune)
But Avery Steele believed it was possible.
“She was talking to me that she wasn’t going to get that scoring record that’s hung up there, and I kept telling her that she can do it and that she needs to believe in herself,” Avery Steele said. “I’m just proud of her for that. It’s like a proud little sister moment.”
Jordan Steele doesn’t hesitate to pump up her younger sister, saying she is “more than capable” of averaging at least 15 points next season. Avery Steele, who is averaging 6.1 points, a team-high 7.0 rebounds and 2.8 steals, took just one shot in Highland’s first two games of the season but then scored 10 points on 15 shots in the third game against Kankakee Valley.
“Avery’s playing really well,” Kundich said. “She’s really stepped up this season. Early in the season, she was very shy shooting the ball and just very timid on the floor overall. But then she finally broke out and finally started shooting the ball. After us begging for quite some time, she finally came out of her shell a little bit.
“What’s really brought Avery out of her shell is the role she plays for us in the paint. She’s our best defender in the post. She’s also our best rebounder. She’s not all that tall, but she does a great job of blocking out. We’re very limited in size, so she plays that role for us.”
Avery Steele, who Kundich believes can become a 1,000-point scorer, posted 14 points in the sectional semifinal against East Chicago Central and added 11 points in the sectional final against Griffith.
“Griffith’s zone threw us off in the first half,” Kundich said. “At halftime of that championship game, I made it a point to tell the guards that she needed to touch the ball basically every time down. We had to run our offense through Avery on Saturday night.
“Although she’s not a captain, she’s a really good leader on our team. She just has a fun personality. She’s always joking around with her teammates and the coaching staff. That brings us together as a group and builds our team chemistry.”
Highland’s Avery Steele (21) runs down the court as her sister Jordan Steele (11) handles the ball during a Class 3A Calumet Sectional semifinal against East Chicago Central in Gary on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (Mandy Coppinger / Post-Tribune)
Avery Steele, who also plays volleyball, is beginning to fulfill the potential that others see in her.
“Jordan holds Avery to a higher standard,” Kundich said. “She saw last year that Avery had the potential, but a lot of it wasn’t coming out. She’s an excellent basketball player, and I don’t know if she quite believed it last year. She’s starting to see it now. As a coach, with Jordan being gone, we’re going to need to see a lot of it next season.”
The Trojans hope to extend this season for two more weeks. Then Jordan Steele, who is also a standout softball player and cross country runner, is expected to finalize her plans for college. That decision represents something of a reversal.
“I think I’ll end up playing in college,” she said. “A year ago, I probably wouldn’t have said that. I probably would’ve said I don’t want to play at all. Like, ‘No.’
“But I’ve talked to Taylor, I’ve talked to a lot of people about it, and they said they regretted not playing a sport in college when they had the opportunity. Taylor said, ‘Wait until the end of your senior season and you’ll feel differently.’ I don’t want to only have a few more games left.”
Jordan Steele isn’t ruling out a reunion with Avery on the court.
“If Avery wants to play in college, she definitely can play with me,” Jordan Steele said.
