South Salem High School Junior, Jordan Woodvine is a Force
digitalsportsnews
| December 18, 2014
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On the morning of September 1
st, 2014, Jordan Woodvine woke to a cell phone buzzing with excitement. The 5-foot-11 the South Salem High School junior’s phone became flooded with Division I college basketball coaches trying to recruit her. Five years ago, Woodvine had never even played a competitive sport. "I just woke up to texts from Arizona or like a couple other coaches and I was like, this can't be happening. Why are they talking to me?" she said. Woodvine has developed in the sport so rapidly, she has risen to the upper echelon of high school basketball players.
Before Middle School, Woodvine was always one of the taller kids for her age and a natural athlete, but she preferred hanging out with her friends to aggressively playing a sport. Just as she was entering seventh grade, a friend of hers, Colton Posey, who now plays basketball at Sprague, invited her on a travelling boys basketball team. She wasn’t very good at first, she admits, but kept at it. "I'd shoot it like a volleyball, like if you were just setting a volleyball," Woodvine said. "I spent countless hours with my coach, Mitch Posey with my elbow against the wall, hand straight and just pushing the up the wall to get a follow through on my shot. Needless to say it really did help."
"She's just kind of made up for lost time," South Salem coach Nick McWilliams said. "She would be a little bit better if she started earlier, but she's a very good player right now. She's picked up things real quickly, and taken the things that we teach her and worked on them and gets better that way. But I guess on the positive side, she's notgoing to burn out as soon as some kids might who have been playing their whole life."
Woodvine’s background of playing against mostly boys presents in the aggressiveness, typically not seen at the high school level. She’s fearless when it comes to taking on players that are larger than her. "It definitely makes her hard to guard," said senior Katie McWilliams. "She can make any move on anyone. She's so quick with her moves, too. That helps. She can just get to the basket whenever she wants. She doesn't always have the confidence to do so, but she definitely can at any time."
For the past few years, Woodvine has played for the Oregon Elite Basetball Club, coached by Gary Lavendar. Her skills and profile with college coaches have grown tremendously. "I fully committed to his team last year and we travelled to Tennessee, North Carolina and Arizona, those were our three big tournaments, and I'm going to continue to play for him," Woodvine said. "I've learned so much from Gary. He's such a great coach who spends his time and dedicates his time to us. All he does is live, eat and breathe basketball. It's nice to have such a great coach like that." As a sophomore, Woodvine was first-team all-Central Valley Conference, second-team all-6A state tournament and honorable mention 6A all-state after averaging 13.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.
Woodvine has developed at such a rapid pace, bringing her to the forefront of Division I recruits. "She's got the tools that they want," Nick McWilliams said. "She's got the size and the athletic ability and the skills, and she continues to improve. Those are the things that they're looking for."
